The first four songs I remember hearing as a kid were:
The Mockingbird Song
Day-O
Silent Night
Silver Bells

I have specific places associated with each song, not only those first ones, but those to come.

(I remember the sound of Nanci Griffith singing the Wexford Carol while I was sitting at the stop at 290 West and Fitzhugh one Christmas Eve, the highway quiet, the stars shining in the cold night. 'Time, flowing like a river, to the sea...' came up after sunset at another intersection driving home from work. 'Nights in White Satin' from the back seat of a car riding home after seeing 'Sounder' with friends. 'Orange Sky', well, also on Fitzhugh. Was introduced to a lot of songs on the radio on Fitzhugh - 'Free Falling' is another. There was 'Into the Mystic' on a turntable at a party in Denver, and 'Madman Across the Water' at a party in Broussard, so insistent from the next room, I had to go in, spellbound, to listen.)

I don't know where I'm going with this. (And isn't that how life is right now? but I keep listening for the music, the soundtrack, the direction.)

Sometimes it's all so very clear, love spelled out in big letters, and there is a serenity, and a confidence. Sometimes it's all a fog, and though you have that inner compass you've worked on polishing, you now can't quite read the needle.

If there are certain songs that stood out when you were a young child as though they were lit from within, maybe they're a gift that your mind is holding on to through the years, ready to surface as needed.


Harry's shout,
Daaaaaayyy -oh!
cuts through fog,
sails across the void,
just for your ears to hear.

a Christmas chorus
is forever calling,
ring-a-ling,
to let you know,
forever, yes,
all is calm
all is bright

the rocking chair,
is marking time
at the beginning
at the end
(sing it again -
mockingbird -
one more time)