Willie Nelson & Lee Ann Womack “Mendocino County Line”
I love this track, Willie Nelson is a legend and Lee Ann Womack has the perfect country voice. The Lyrics talk about a relationship that has failed but still has a pull on the people involved.
I don’t talk to you too much these days
I just thank the lord pictures don’t fade
I spent time with an angel just passing through
Now all that’s left is this image of you
If I have learned anything from the last seventy years it is that relationships come and go. That isn’t a good or a bad thing it is just the way it is.
There is an ebb and flow to life and friends drift apart or they just move. Over Christmas I met up with an old friend for a drink. He was a regular in my life in the 70/80s but he moved back to Canada when his Mother became ill. It was great to catch up and for a couple of hours the years faded away and and we became lost in our joint memories.
Over Christmas I also met up with a friend who died nearly twenty years ago. It was a very vivid dream and for a moment after I woke up I felt that he was still alive.
This week’s poem is inspired by another occasion shortly after he died when I am sure I heard a cat in the street say his name.
The cat who spoke.
A cat peered through the iron railings
He said your name over and over again
I wondered if the cat had a message from you
I did consider striking up a conversation
But there was nothing the cat could have told me
That I didn’t already know
I know you are dead
And that the dead do not come back
And the living miss them
And sometimes in their grief
They hear cats speak
It must have said something like “meow“
And instead
In my sorrow I heard
Brian, Brian, Brian
® Jeff Price January 2018
