Paula Joy Welter: Music

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• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

A dear friend, Joanne White, inspired this song -- an incident that happened between her and a stranger in a Rancho Cordova, CA store, as she was waiting in the checkout line.

JOANNA’S GIFT

©1995 PAULA JOY WELTER

Verse I:
SHE STOOD IN LINE AT STOP ‘n SHOP,
GROCERIES AND HER PRIVATE THOUGHTS,
WHITE ROSES FILLED JOANNA’S CART,
BUT NOT THE ACHING COLDNESS IN HER HEART.

Verse II:
THEN ABOVE THE MARKET’S NOISE
JOANNA HEARD A WOMAN’S VOICE
“SUCH LOVELY FLOWERS YOU HAVE TODAY,”
AS FINGERS REACHED TO STROKE THE SWEET BOUQUET.

CHORUS:

SOMETIMES STRANGERS TOUCH OUR LIVES
LIKE SOOTHING RAIN FROM SUMMER SKIES.
SOMETIMES STRANGERS HAVE A WAY
OF HEARING WHAT WE CANNOT SAY.
SOME HAVE FLOWERS, SOME HAVE NONE,
BUT THE FRAGRANCE AND THE SORROWS SHARED
ARE COMMON CORDS THAT BIND US ALL AS ONE.

Verse III:
JOANNA KEPT HER TEARS INSIDE,
BUT SAID “THIS WEEK, MY MOTHER DIED. ”
THE STRANGER SAID, “I MISS MINE TOO,”
AND THEN THEY TALKED AS ONLY WOMEN DO.

Verse IV:
JOANNA PAID AND TURNED TO GO,
BUT FIRST SHE LET SOME KINDNESS GO;
IN GIVING HALF HER FLOWERS AWAY,
SHE FELT SOME ACHING COLDNESS MELT THAT DAY

CHORUS REPEATS, then again:

SOME HAVE FLOWERS, SOME HAVE NONE,
BUT THE FRAGRANCE AND THE SORROWS SHARED
ARE COMMON CORDS THAT BIND US ALL AS ONE.