hush little baby

Medium

Digital

Artist Notes

© 2011 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserved _____________________________________________________________________________________________ In the Shadow of the Lighthouse _____________________________________________________________________________________________ The foghorn was blowing relentlessly, soft and sad, the night we first talked about forever. Do you remember? We were at the shore. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ It was an early October night, and you just weren't sleepy. "Foghorns sound sad. How come?" you asked. "Oh, maybe just because they have seen too many shipwrecks," I answered. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ You were silent for several minutes, and then you said, "Do you know what sailboats remind me of?" "No," I replied. "Tell me." _____________________________________________________________________________________________ You hugged me close around the neck and said, "Sailboats remind me of forever." You spoke so softly in the misty, damp dark as we lay, peaceful, breathing in the salty air and listening to the the music of the crickets and the sea. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ That was the night I first realized what an old soul inhabits your newly-minted child's body. That was the night I discovered that you feel things like I do, the waves of the ages washing over you and binding you tightly to all time. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ That was the night, lying in the shadow of the lighthouse, that I knew your path would be uphill, strewn with stones, not level, smooth as glass. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ My path is rocky too. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ My hand is here for you to hold when all the world seems gray and indecipherable, the mist too thick to penetrate alone. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ I promise I will listen. I cannot promise to agree, or even to always understand, but I can promise you I will listen. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ If I can light a beacon in the woolly enveloping fog of the mysterious unfolding world, I will shine it brightly for you. ~ © 1997, renewed 2010 RC deWinter _____________________________________________________________________________________________ My beloved son, Eben Lassen, died in his sleep in the early morning hours of my birthday, February 3, 2007. Eben, I know you are sailing now.