A Need for Solitude

The afternoon begins its measured descent into the waning light of day, as it deliberately chases the coming evening and its blanketing darkness. The golden light and the length of summer days reverses its trajectory and yields its gains without fanfare towards the advancing Autumn. In this sacred time between light of day, and dark of night, I take a moment to re-visit where I am, embraced by my eternal yearning, for greater solitude...

I am not drawn to write, or to be with others, at this time, and I even refrain from the pull of social networking sites - choosing instead, to journey more deeply inward into a place of no words and greater silence...

Memories of ushering in this summer in the company of friends at Wolf Trap, where we dutifully worshipped at the quirky altar of the guru-like Garrison Keillor, arise momentarily, before becoming scattered like the first leaves falling in the dryness of this late summer. This glorious event and yearly ritual, spent in the company of the same friends, has formally marked the start of the summer season for the past six years. But now, we have arrived, to this latter half of August, reunited again at Wolf Trap, with the length of days getting shorter, as we commence our journey once more, towards the heart of winter...

We come together to imbibe poetic and introspective musings offered by Mary Chapin Carpenter, a spiritual and chronological kindred soul of sorts, whose poignant songs paint an evocative portrait of experiences and feelings, enriched by insights, that mirror our own...

This gifted composer and songstress, in the changing light of the day and its perennial dance throughout the seasons, simultaneously captures and reflects the essence of my life and soul, inviting me to return to the sweet stillness and solitude where only everything is real...

I delight in sharing this song in the company of a treasured soul, whose intense desire for solitude eclipses my very own, but whose glance acknowledges that the magical time of day when the light changes everything, also claims my heart...

I Have a Need for Solitude

I have a need
For solitude
I'll never be
Safe in crowded rooms
I like the sound
Of silence coming on
I come around
When everyone has gone

I have a need
For cool, verdant spaces
Beneath the trees
Secret empty places
Nobody knows
So no one will intrude
I have a need
For solitude

But you can find me, when the light is changing
At that time of day when there's
Little day remaining
You can find me where I've been waiting
Waiting her for you

I never was
The pretty girl in school
I never was
Fast, tough and cool
All I was
All my life it seems
Was hard to love
But you can find me, when the light is changing
At that time of day when there's
Little day remaining

I have a need
For solitude
I'll never be
Safe in crowded rooms
I like the sound
Of silence coming on
I come around when all the rest have gone...