“These Foolish Things” by Eric Maschwitz, Strachey
“Oh will you never let me be?
Oh will you never set me free?
The ties that bound us, are still around us
There’s no escape that I can see
And still those little things remain
That bring me happiness or pain…”
If we can’t escape our past, me must learn to live with it. And if we must live with it, why not remember the best of things in their most positive light, rather than dwelling on the traumas, the failures, the heartaches, the roads too often travelled down the wrong paths that still led us to this same place?
Sure, there are many things we would do differently, in this brain, this body, this wiser experience if facing it today. But where is the fun in that? At the time, we thought we were doing right, even when we were doing wrong. We said the wrong thing, went the wrong way, found the wrong reasons to find our right. But we learned a thing or two or ten, and then, if we had any integrity left, righted the wrongs, made amends, made new friends more true than the ones found in youth when we were all sorting it out. The ones that remain are there for a reason. Everyone only has their own truth to live.
“I know that this was bound to be
These things have haunted me, for you’ve entirely enchanted me”
There will always be another unknown curve in our road, something we never expected, something that makes us dig deep into our own capability that we thought hidden or forgotten. That same road may have offered snow or rain or leaves or escape or the arc of a street football game TD, but it was us who changed, not the road. We can look back or we can look forward, but it’s still us searching for something that’s really not missing, it’s just there, up around the bend, waiting to be recognized.
The strings, the web, the stories we embroider with our examples, the shared laughter, the sleepless nights, the tears of pride, the cries of change, all make up this wonderful cacophony of resounding music that ebbs and flows through our minds at night to make our days worth savoring. There are more than two sides to any story, and what pains you may have saved another, while what hurt another may have made you laugh. It’s always in the interpretation, the attitude, the insight and the truth laid bare. But it is always, only a test. Sometimes you ace it, sometimes you fail, and you’re never prepared. It’s just another day in the fabric of our lives.
Oh, how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you, just you.