All Of The Selves We Have Ever Been
Menu

all of the selves we Have ever been

Revival

10/27/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
It’s eight o’clock on a Friday.
The out-of-town crowd shuffles in.
There’s an old friend sitting next to me
waiting for the show to begin.
 
She says, “I hope he plays me some memories,
something I’m sure how it goes,
the sad and the sweet that I knew complete
when I wore a younger girl’s clothes.”
                                                              
Then he says, “I’ve got nothing new to play for you,”
and the crowd whistles and cheers with delight.
We agree it is sweet that we know them complete
‘cause that’s what we came for tonight.
 
It’s a pretty good crowd for a Friday
and every face young and old has a smile
because it is he that we came here to see
to forget about life for a while.
 
He sings us his songs our piano man.
He sings us his songs all night,
and we’re all in the mood for his melodies.
It is time for some things to feel right.
 
The atmosphere is a carnival
as the crowd slowly sips on its beers,
and we sit in the stands and clap with our hands,
and say, “Man it is good to be here!”
 
And then, just like that, it is over.
We wait for Brother Joel to return.
And he steps on the stage with an encore arranged,
and he plays ‘til a new day is earned.
​
​On the eve of 9/11/2021, the 20th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, I attended a revival.  Our tent was the Great American Ballpark on the banks of the Ohio River.  Take me to the water!
​
The leader of this traveling salvation show was not a preacher.  He was a musical storyteller, a piano man.  We arrived to the event weary and worried, pulling ourselves from the rubble of a global pandemic and reminders of the life-shattering events of 9/11.  Then the Piano Man stepped onto the stage.  He put his hands on the baby grand, and we were all born again.
 
He rocked us awake from our COVID sleep and out of our painful 9/11 nightmares.  His old songs became our medicine, pain relief in a time capsule, taking us back to simpler days and better places:  high school dances and college dorms, first concerts and first loves, songs on the road and songs in the shower, the ages of vinyl, cassette, and CD. There was joy and happiness, togetherness and hope.  In a crowd of thousands, each person sang from the same page in a shared and familiar songbook.  Bass or soprano, alto or tenor, it didn’t matter.  There was harmony.
 
The Piano Man delivered the sermon in lyrics as familiar and reassuring as old psalms.  By the time the night was over, we were all converts.  Rising from the ashes of our sorrows, we found that we could survive the burns. Hallelujah! 
 
On the eighth day, after some rest, God said, "Let there be music."  And there was.  He sent us a piano man.  'Cause even God's in the mood for a melody.  He wants us feelin' all right.

2 Comments
cappy hall rearick
10/27/2021 11:55:52 am

Love this so much!!

Reply
Lilli-ann Buffin link
10/27/2021 01:06:54 pm

Thanks, Cappy. That is music to my ears!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lilli-ann Buffin
    ​

      Get Notified of New Posts

    Subscribe

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    Acne
    Adulting
    Advertising
    Aging
    Arms
    Barbie
    Baths
    Beauty
    Beloved Community
    BINGO
    Birds
    Books
    Branding
    Bravery
    Cars
    Catching Up
    Children
    Church
    Cliches
    Clothing
    Comfy Couches
    Coping With Stress
    Coronavirus
    Death & Dying
    Diets
    Dignity
    Discernment
    Drive Ins
    Drive-ins
    Driving
    Essential Workers
    Exercise
    Faith
    Falling
    Father's Day
    Food
    Friendship
    Fruit
    Games
    Good Intentions
    Goodness
    Good Old Days
    Grace
    Graduation
    Grandparents
    Gratitude
    Hair
    Handwriting
    Health
    Heroes
    History
    Holidays
    Hope
    Houses
    Humor
    Illness
    Imagination
    Influencers
    Ironing
    John Lewis
    Knowledge
    Laughter
    Laundry
    Leadership
    Libraries
    Listening
    Lists
    MacGyver
    Madge
    Magazines
    Mail
    Masks
    Memorial Day
    Memories
    Mental Illness
    Miracles
    Moral Lessons
    Mothers
    Music
    Names
    Nancy Drew
    Nature
    Neighbors
    Oreos
    Other-Mothers
    Our Stuff
    Outdoors
    Parenting
    Pets
    Phones
    Poignancy
    Prayer
    Purses
    Reading
    Recipes
    Reinvention
    Revelations
    Rewards
    Rotisserie Chicken
    Saturdays
    Saving The World
    Schools
    Shelf Life
    Showers
    Siblings
    Small Things
    Sorrow
    Speed
    Sports
    Stores
    Substance Abuse
    Success
    Sunshine
    Technology
    Toilet Paper
    Tools
    Truth
    Uncles
    Veterans
    Voting
    Walking
    War
    Water
    Weather
    Wilderness
    Wishing
    Women
    Wonder
    Work

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say