Monday morning, 7 AM the sun already some distance above the horizon toward the river, illuminates a pearl gray sky.  It is overcast.  Gray, gray, gray is pronounced over and over by my grand daughter.  She is two and a half and delights to learn the name of colors.

Gray is the color of my mood.  The news from Ukraine is somber.  There was the missile attack upon the subway station crowded with women and children a few days ago.  The weapon was a precision guided projectile.  The objective was to terrorize, to demoralize the helpless, to send a message…  No doubt the message was received.  The Ukrainians will fight “to the last man” as they unequivocally refuse to live in servitude to Russia.

Many years ago I knew a server from Ukraine.  She offered one comment about her experience with Russians, – “I hate them.”

So, the bombing of the cities to the east will intensify as the Russian army attempts to take the Donbas region.  Whether they succeed or not, the toll is certain to be many thousands of dead.  The best that Ukraine can hope for is to exact such a terrible cost in men and destroyed material that Putin will relent, ordering his generals to withdraw to bases in Russia.

But what do I know?  I, a retired “old guy” who only knows that now, the sky is gray.

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This tune would be rendered in “gray” if a picture could be painted of the life-experience conveyed, a sober memory of what could not be.  Melancholy, — of compulsion hidden, an inclination overpowering, that stands in the way of a mutual exchange of care, of love.  The lines of the verse are a look-over-the-shoulder:

Time cast a spell on you…you won’t forget me…
I know I could’ve loved you but you would not let me….

Is this one of the “great” tunes, a gem-like encapsulation of life?  There’s always much gray.  Nevertheless we live, and life will go on.    “Turn around, you’ll see me runnin'”

Silver Spring

By Stevie Nicks

You could be my silver spring….
Blue-green..colors flashin’
I would be your only dream…..
Your shinin’ autumn….ocean crashin’….
Don’t say that she’s pretty….
and did you say that she loves you…?
Baby I don’t wanna know.

So I’ll begin not to love you…
Turn around, you’ll see me runnin’
I’ll say I loved you years ago…
And tell myself you never loved me….No……
Don’t say that she’s pretty….
And did you say that she loves you…?
Baby, I don’t wanna know….Oh no…..
And can you tell me…was it worth it….?
Baby, I don’t wanna know..

Time cast a spell on you…you won’t forget me…
I know I could’ve loved you but you would not let me….

Time cast a spell on you…but you won’t forget me…
(I was such a fool)
I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me..
(Give me one more chance)
I’ll follow you down ’til the sound of my voice will haunt you..
(Haunt you)
You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you..

[Repeat…]

Lyrics composed by Stevie Nicks