I used to sing Joni Mitchell’s song, The Circle Game, to my young children a lot, a whole lot, as they either whaled in protest or plugged their ears. Those were the days before their legs could carry them to safer ground. Today, in my now empty nest, I am singing it loudly and dedicating it to a sweet baby girl born yesterday. I was her moms doula. I was awed and inspired afresh, humbled to be in the presence of such a powerful love. Love expressed in this moms pure effort as she birthed her daughter and this fathers pure delight and exuberance as he cheered his partner on! Welcome to the world JJ.
Take a listen or sing along! https://youtu.be/vRa6Ta2tw_M
You can find the lyrics and more here: http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=39
The Circle Game
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you're older must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game *
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look Behind from where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game