The Songs That Sing Me

In the dark the thoughts come. Fear. What’s going to happen in this country? What is that twinge in my body? I have no control.

And then songs come and replace the fear. Wendell Berry, who died in August, wrote these words, a blessing, especially as we’re going into October and November and I struggle with the darkness again.

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark, go without sight,

and find that the dark too breathes and sings

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

Two phrases from a song have been tickling my brain for a week: “Your strength and power flows; your strength and power grows.”

Where did that come from? My thoughts go back, back, back. Then comes a song I learned in 1985 at an Earthsteward gathering. It was taught by the woman who wrote it, and we all sang it a half dozen times over the long weekend. There it is in my head, 40 years later. Dream-like it comes, informing, healing something that needs to be informed or healed.

These days, it’s inescapable to wake up now and then with the song: I’m Alive, I’m Alert.

I’m alive, I’m alert, I’m awake and joyous,

I’m alive, I’m alert, I’m enthusiastic about life….

My eyes shine, my skin glows, my whole body radiates health.

All change in my life is perfectly timed.

I go through all change easily

To meet my, to meet my, to meet my supreme good.

And then I laugh, because — of course — no change in my life is perfectly timed. And I restructure my attitude and start my day.

In our song circle, led by Maggie McKnight, I’ve learned songs for the resistance, songs that open my heart, songs that keep me believing in a positive future. I’ve gone on to teach them to my women’s singing circle, and they become their favorites.

One by one everyone comes to remember,

We’re healing the world one heart at a time.

These songs each lead to the next. Some last in my head only moments. Some keep singing themselves in me, like an earworm, for days and days.

Barbara Clark, former editor of Senior News, sings with a song circle offered by the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (1st and 3rd Fridays at 4 p.m.) and with a women’s circle that meets once a month.