While on the subject of harvesting, this song by Neil Young tells a happy tale of love beneath a harvest moon. It didn’t speak to me in my youth, but like all great music, it creeps back and resonates differently the older one gets. When I think of Andy, and how supportive and helpful he has been this past summer, this song seems to embody the life we have slowly built together over the last couple of decades, even amid the madness of all those full moons that have passed over us in that time.
When we were strangersI watched you from afarWhen we were loversI loved you with all my heart
Maybe we don’t celebrate those happy moments as much as we should, and we certainly don’t celebrate the moments when we are simply contented. The older I get, and the more of life’s sorrows that we experience, those moments of simple contentment, of standing still and being ok, the more I realize their value. I hope that makes life more enriching going forward, that there is something to be gleaned and earned from all the sadness and loss.
But now it’s gettin’ lateAnd the moon is climbin’ highI want to celebrateSee it shinin’ in your eye
We don’t lean into the joy when we have it. We don’t stop to smell the roses when they’re sweet. At the crest of middle age, I want to do more of that for the downhill portion of this ride of life.
Because I’m still in love with youI want to see you dance againBecause I’m still in love with youOn this harvest moon
For an even more intense and stripped down experience, listen to Cassandra Wilson’s exquisite rendering of the song, deconstructed to a primal, tender treatise on love. When I was living alone in Boston, I listened to this version of the song, not understanding, not even approaching an understanding of what it might mean.
We are a little closer today.
Because I’m still in love with youI want to see you dance againBecause I’m still in love with youOn this harvest moon
