Belleville, Ohio
May 19, 2022
Yesterday was a reflective day as I visited three Paris’. I listened to “He Went To Paris” at least a dozen times. The song still makes me tear up. I pondered why that is. At least for yesterday, it was the appreciation that I am lucky enough to be on my own freighter, going to my own islands to ponder my own questions.
I also focused on the lines that I have put in bold. Isn’t it funny how we put our curiosity at bay during the middle part of our lives? We get caught up in the day to day and forget the questions that we were asking. Hopefully later on we get a chance to revisit them and perhaps answer at least some of them.
Another case of my words not quite conveying my thoughts and feelings.
He went to Paris Looking for answers To questions that bothered him so
He was impressive, Young and aggressive, Saving the world on his own Warm summer breezes And french wines and cheeses Put his ambitions at bay
Summers and winters Scattered like splinters And four or five years slipped away
He went to England Played the piano And married an actress named Kim They had a fine life She was a good wife And bore him a young son named Jim
And all of the answers And all of the questions Locked in his attic one day He liked the quiet Clean country living And twenty more years slipped away
Well, the war took his baby Bombs killed his lady And left him with only one eye His body was battered His whole world was shattered And all he could do was just cry
While the tears were a' fallin' He was recallin' The answers he never found So he hopped on a freighter Skidded the ocean And left England without a sound
Now he lives in the islands Fishes the pylons And drinks his green label each day He's writing his memoirs And losing his hearing But he don't care what most people say
"Through eighty six years Of perpetual motion, " If he likes you, he'll smile and he'll say, "Some of it's magic, And some of it's tragic, But I had a good life all the way"
He went to Paris Looking for answers To questions that bothered him so
I also spent some time thinking about this poem.
Powerful stuff. I hope when it’s all over, I will have succeeded.