The Water is Black

I wonder why I love sad songs so much. 

I would say it's because I enjoy life, 

and delight on most everything. 

and because of that, I have an insecurity that my experience is two

dimensional.  

not that I never have dark days, or troubled waters,

but that my default seems to be joy. 

and I'm thankful for that. 

but I love to love to love sad songs.  

Songs about loneliness.  

and longing for home. 

and broken relationships that remain broken. 

the truth in those songs,

I mean the rusted memories of Patty Griffin

and the lamenting histories of Ray LaMontagne

the righteous hunger in Derek Webb

and the American quiet dispair of Sufjan,

I just love to live inside them, 

set their pain beside mine,

and revel in it.

Maybe they lend me a third dimension.

- JJ.