It's December, which means that 2020 is almost over. This time of year, my songs often become reflective on cycles, the passage of time, the meaning of the year that was, that sort of thing. This year has been ... unusual. It has been so unusual that any song picked out of a hat that I've written in 2020 might embody the qualities that I usually shoot for in a December song. It has been a year of ongoing reflection, to say the least. But it has also been a year that is hard to think about, hard to confront, hard to understand, and hard to describe. It's easier not to reflect on 2020. At the same time, it's hard to imagine the future or the past, because our present is so powerfully strange. It feels as if we are in no time at all. I wonder how long it will feel like that.
lyrics
Do we dare to look ahead?
All our courage to anticipate
All the chaos that we're used to
Cling to hope if you have time to
Hope wasn't always a dirty word
And it doesn't have to be
Do we have to face the past
Do we commit to making sense of it?
Can we agree on all the basics?
Is it still memory if we fake it?
Time wasn't always a dirty word
And it doesn't have to be
Are we awake to here and now?
Are we the kind of folks who live in it?
Have we got both feet on the ground?
Have we got the heart to stick around?