Perfect Poetry

Tall and a trifle thin, gray headed and shaggy, grinning a little shyly, Jesse Winchester took the stage and the magic began. For the next almost two hours, I listened to this incredibly gifted musician sing and tell gentle stories of grandchildren, falling in love, and life on the road, all told through the sweetest and most mellow music I've ever heard, all perfect poetry - lyrical, genuine, spiritual and uplifting. I felt myself falling in love all over again and was so lost that I barely remembered my old Nikon hanging around my neck was there for a reason. I watched couples hold hands and others lean forward in their seats then become motionless for entire songs, rapt with the sheer beauty of the music and spellbound by the softly sung words. I sensed enchantment falling over us like a see through veil and wished for the night to never end.

There were silly songs and sad songs, satirical songs and laugh out loud funny songs, love songs so impossibly beautiful that I was moved to tears - and when he began "Songbird" I was not alone in this. There were songs that seemed to be soft spoken prayers and songs that celebrated life and love and passing on. It was music that I thought might could change the world if enough people listened and it was impossible to leave without feeling a joyous sense of hope and peacefulness, a oneness, a belief that it all could come out right in the end, a certainty that there is purpose here.
This was a man, now in his 6th decade, who was in perfect pitch with the world, who wrote from the heart and sang as if no one was listening - a modest man with kind eyes and an old soul.

I will save this night in a place I reserve for the bad times, when I need a memory strong enough to dispel despair, give me strength and a reason to keep on trying.