NOT HOLDING ON

Not holding on to what’s gone,

I hold on to what I must do,

Even if it is a long way from here,

Even if I don’t get there,

Or I’m late having gotten there

And what I wanted to do or say

When I got there is no longer

Anything to be done or said,

No last note to hold on to,

Chicken in the window,

Strawberry roan in the meadow,

Fox breaking ice on the creek.

I feel the strange magic of

People coming together,

Traveling with you

A long way from there.

Two things go to the heart.

Life and death are the same.

That’s all she wrote.

29 December 2012

Spoken word version from Venerable Madtown Hall, copyright © 2013 by Jim Cohn.

Video clip from The Making of Venerable Madtown Hall, copyright © 2013 by Jim Cohn.