“Don’t go borrowing trouble”
That’s what you used to say
But we don’t keep in touch
The way we used to nowadays
Your eyes are not as bright
As I remember them to be
The light inside’s grown dim
And that’s hard for me to seeThe creases on your forehead
Run like treads on a tire
The white stripe running through your bangs
A long and twisted spire
You’re sweeping up the flies
And you’ve been vacuuming the fires
And you lay down every night
Next to a goddamn liarWhen the day is winding down
My heart abandons me for you
You forgot yourself so long ago
And I wish I could too
But you live inside a quiet hell
No one can pray away
Leaving would be easy
I understand why you won’t stayYou’ll be wrong if you were thinking
That we all don’t fade away
Like dew drops in the dawn
Like sunbeams through the haze
It’s a long way to be sinking
Holding tightly to the weights
Of the one who pulls you down
While you slowly waste your daysYou may be here today
But tomorrow you’re a ghost
I guess the most someone can hope for
Is to find a place to lay
Someone to tell your secrets to
When the nights get long and blue
Someone strong enough to lean on
When the roses fall awayStrong enough to love you when you’re wrong
-Brandi Carlile (Although mostly written by the Hanseroth Twins
In that Stereogum interview Brandi said the following about this song:
CARLILE: This is one of those situations, without being too abstract, where I share a life with several families. And I share songwriting with the twins. I didn’t pen this one, but I mean it. I think it’s absolutely for me when I sing it. It’s about balancing intense pain and anger, which I feel like are packaged as one emotion in this song, with acceptance and empathy, which is really hard to do. When I sing this song, I am angry and really hurt by this person’s choices and their existence. And then, on the other hand, I’m accepting their decision and empathizing with the things that led them to making that decision. And that’s, I think, really important because that’s the only way to put one foot in front of the other. That’s kind of a classic… This is Al-Anon language for me, which I basically grew up marinating in. I feel really raw when I sing this song because I can understand it and fathom what’s been written in a really big way.
You believe that there are only 3 Brandi Carlile songs (sorta) to use as flowertography entry titles? Makes me sad and excited at the same time! Intense pain and anger. Acceptance and empathy. All flowing at once.
But Thursdays are for flowers. This flowertography collection was taken on June 16th. In my yard.
This stargazer lily blooming this year was a very nice surprise. I would almost say a much needed miracle.
On this day I also took a couple of pictures of Naima I would like to share.
Naima hadn’t been on a leash in years. And she had no problem make herself at home in Stan and Noreen’s yard.
She knew better to into the street, unless she was angling for a car ride. And she loved car rides!
I need to thank Sara yet again for the memorial ornament she gave me for Naima. It is something I definitely treasure!
Next Thursday’s flowertography journey will actually leave my yard. It will go all the way to the State Center Rose Garden!