Today’s song story is for “Little One”, the closing track on our album, “EARTH”.
This one is a lullaby-love-song to my children. It is an attempt to express in words and music and emotion the immense mind-opening and heart-breaking experience of walking through the portal into parenthood.
It’s a song honoring how I feel about my children and the unfathomably huge responsibility+gift handed to me as their mom. And my realization that, in the end, all we really have to hold on to is love.
Ah, parenthood. There’s the awe and “not knowing” I experienced when holding these wee people in my arms. There’s the gratitude for the moment-to-moment lessons they teach us about patience, compassion, selflessness, balance, and the true abundance of love.
And then there’s the horrifying truth I finally confronted at some point along the road that no matter how hard I tried, no matter what Grand and Fierce superpowers and forces I called upon, no matter how deep and authentic my intentions…I could not ultimately protect these little people from harm. Life involves suffering and fear and sadness and loss, and my children will experience that too, for they are human beings, on this Earth, in this time. It’s a world of hope, and a world of harming, for sure.
So I realized, here’s all I can really do, in the face of this uncontrollable life, in the face of the truth of impermanence, in the face of this boundless love I have found within this parent-child relationship:
Stay as open and receptive and mindful as possible. So as not to miss out on their childhood and all the lessons they have to teach me about love and life. And so they will feel heard, seen, witnessed. So they will feel Loved.
And commit to having the intention to teach, model, communicate, and act in ways that tell my own story of what I know love to be and how to live a life as grounded in the values of compassion, kindness, truth, presence and joy as possible.
My boys are both teenagers now (they’ll be 14 and 17 this summer!) and long gone are the days when I could cradle their little bodies in my arms, hug their little sleepy forms to my chest, hold their little hands across streets, and listen to their little voices echo through the house, the yard, the big world outside. Long gone are the days when they looked up at me with those eyes, trusting and wide, curious and deep. Now, they’re both taller than me, and they look down with eyes ever more beautiful, full of wisdom, light, and their own ancient and growing personalities.
I am floored by their very existence. I am humbled by their presence and the task of guiding them through this often difficult life. I am so deeply grateful to be traveling this road with them.
Jasper and Silas, I love you! Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you for making me a mother. And thanks for being here, now.
VERSE 1 oh little one oh where did you come from oh you’re my stars and my sun carry me away on the love
oh precious one oh it has all begun oh and it will never be done tender and amazed is the love
CHORUS I see you I hear you I love you I am here for you forever
VERSE 2 oh little babe we wander through this life afraid but here you are with your wise old face can you tell me all you know of love
oh little darlin’ it’s a world of hope and a world of harmin’ I cannot keep it all at bay but I’ll tell you all I know of love
CHORUS
VERSE 3 oh little one oh precious one oh little darlin’ here we are in love oh here we are in love
To check out and download (“pay what you want”) our EARTH album, see the player below or visit it here. And here’s wishing a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Mother’s Day to all of you out there who mother others in one way or another.
Love, Charity