Let The Tears Flow

Well, just yesterday, I finished listening to a song written and performed by George Donaldson. It's a song on his solo album, The White Rose. A YouTube video is enclosed at the end of this post (just the link; I, unfortunately, couldn't get the video embedder to work for this post).

I can't explain it half as well as he did, but the song was about writing down all the pains of a broken heart (or, in my case, everything that's hurt me over the past year). When you finish writing down the beginning and the middle (for the end is still yet to come), you go to a river and drop the paper into it. You let it wash away your pain and cleanse your broken heart.

The original river was one in France, but I recently followed through with what the song said to do.

I wrote down everything that hurt me since November of 2011. I filled up two pages, both sides. I let all of my emotions out onto the paper.

Then I folded them up, put on a coat (Western Washington was in the middle of a windstorm, with some rain), and headed out. I hiked out into the forest outside my house, and walked down the railroad tracks until I reached an area of the river that flowed fairly quickly.

I stood at the banks of the river. It was very windy; the trees were rustling and there was this strange sound being made by the wind--almost like the whispering of thousands of people, singing all at once. I'm not being poetic; that's what it truly sounded like.

I held the papers in my hand. I stared straight ahead, and I said to myself, "I'm going to let this river wash away all my sorrows and all my pains. I'm going to let it wipe my slate clean, and give me a fresh start to my life. I'm going to try to live happier and better in the next year."

I looked up at the sky for a moment, and then dropped the papers into the river. I watched them for a moment, and I turned and walked away before they left my sight. I thought it symbolic--I'm not going to dwell on those things anymore, so there is no reason to watch them until they disappear. I am turning my back on them.

When I got home, I realized that I felt happy. I felt free, like a weight had been lifted off my heart and soul. I hadn't even realized it was there until now.

So, if you live within the vicinity of a river, I suggest you do what George Donaldson wrote the song about: write all your sorrows down on a piece of paper, and go let the river carry it away. It might do you a world of good.
Let The Tears Flow - George Donaldson