1:39am July 30, 2014

“High on the ridge above the farm
(Gone, gonna rise again)
I think of my people who have gone on
(Gone, gonna rise again)
Like a tree that grows in the mountain ground
Storms of life have cut ‘em down
But the new wood springs from the roots in the ground
Gone, gonna rise again”

Kathy Mattea, “Gone, Gonna Rise Again”

Those roots mean everything to me.  And this kind of thing… this is why the redwoods have taught me so much about life, and death, and how death comes from life and life comes from death.  With my dad dying, this song is never far from my mind.  Of course this whole album is about death and loss, and it’s been a great comfort lately.  But this song gets to the core of it in many ways.  It talks about the way we leave things for future generations, it talks about the way after people die, there’s still new life.  And it talks about it all in terms I can understand.

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