Winter Day and Summer Night

Hearing some open mic performers at Busboys & Poets bring pre-recorded soundtracks made me think that I too should probably do the same and premiere the new version of “Repeated Words” for which Eric Harper laid down the guitar track. But then I thought, what about an acoustic song, simple enough so I can play it myself on the guitar and sing?

That is when an old song which I had written in the end of winter of 1998 in North Carolina came to mind. A few summers ago, while camping in Yosemite one night near the campfire I added new verses to the song, completing it with the reverse theme of solitude during a gorgeous summer night:

The day the tired snow started falling
From the branches kissed by the sun
The day I thought ’bout my cooking calling:
To cook for just one, no more is fun

That day Segovia came home
But I wanted something new
I just wanted to write a song for you

Now this song was supposed to be impression
Of a winter day spent alone
Nothing about feeling suppression
Nor about whatever is gone

But I heard in the distance your laughter
And I took it to be a sign
That my winter day might have a spring design

In summer night the fire sparks are falling
Into the lonely dusk kissed by the moon
Marshmallows roasting, a campfire — toasty,
Then the thought of you came not too soon

Such night, and I’m sitting here lonely
Yet I took it to be a sign
That my solitude might have an end in its design

Now this song is supposed to bring departure
From a summer night spent alone
And no, it’s not a song about the archer
Whose wings might bring future unknown

But the thought of you kept coming back with laughter
And I took it to be a sign
That my solitude might have an end in its design.

So, if you want to hear this performed live, come next Friday night to Busboys & Poets in Shirlington!

P.S. Here is me on a summer night in Yosemite:

Summer night in Yosemite

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