Paved Paradise
Paved Paradise
I guess Joni Mitchell
Was pretty right on,
When she said
That we’ll never know
What we’ve got until it’s gone.
But does that mean
We don’t usually appreciate our A, B or C
Until they’re taken from us?
But does this have to be true?
Can you possibly imagine
That this has happened to you…?
In the flash of a moment
The picture perfect sky
Cracks into millions of tiny pixels.
The sun boils, blisters,
Pops and oozes dry,
The sedatory crash of the ocean waves
Turns to high-pitched wails,
Shock sets in,
Melody siphons into monotone,
Life’s intimacies are dulled,
Processing slows,
Everything changes
In a blink of circumstance,
Pains cringe out of unknown places,
Emotions turn up their volume.
How you are now is not the same,
As how you once were.
Now deal with it!
Smoke comes out of the tractor’s exhaust,
Your paradise has been paved…
And they’re installing a parking lot.
In time,
You’ll be looking for a parking space,
And you’ll never know
What was once there in that place.
Worse yet and what’s a scare,
You will not know what could have been there.
At first,
You probably don’t realize
What you cannot do,
Just try to not let it get to you.
Your paradise has been paved-
Like it or not,
You’ll have to accept it,
Because it’s what you’ve got!
Brain injury flattens out our many capabilities,
Even ones that before we were not aware,
Some of us must learn these things the hard way -
But the question remains…
Must we go through loss,
To appreciate what was once there?
To the unimpaired,
This is aimed -
So that ignorance of this loss,
Will cease.
Knowledge births tolerance,
And acceptance…
For survivors deserve
To be granted their peace.
A clear portrait is being painted,
Of what we’ve got…
Don’t pave paradise and put up a parking lot!
(Joni Mitchell, 1970) Gray Matters for you!