thunder bay

Thunder Bay

It rained so hard the first day that we met,

It seemed the thunder clouds had come for an event of sorrowed love,

Then disappointed hate, arrived in time to bring you down and kill all hopes of peace,

I do not know how you had borne his strain so long.

Why could we not meet yesterday,

To see you for a while before you walked away.

And still your pale green eyes remind me yet to mourn,

The gray haired burden of your life revealed his wrath and scorned,

All that you knew to be your life,

So that I became afraid, and walked for hours in the pouring rain,

It should have been another way,

In time in place of hatred peace must light the day.

And Judy how I cried for you that night,

And how you wiped away my tears,

And Judy how I longed for you in time,

Although its been so many years.

You are so old for one of so few years,

It seems that choice of friends has scored a scar too deep in venomed tears,

And now a crumpled tissue lies, where a soul once bled its life,

To save humanity, syringe in smoldered cries,

I tried my best to help you,

Still crimson shadows crawl through moonlit shade,

And bid you straight return in search of Thunder Bay.

Still crimson shadows crawl through moonlit shade,

And bid you straight return in search of Thunder Bay.

This song was written in Montreal Canada about a disturbing weekend with relatives I had never met before. The remains of Hurricane Doria blew though, coinciding with the inner storms I was experiencing. Judy was seventeen at the time and was dealing with heroin addiction and fighting with her parents, particularly her father. We walked around Montreal in the rain that night, deep in conversation about the quest to discover meaning in life. She had visited Thunder Bay, a town north of Montreal, with her boyfriend and longed to return. I have not heard from her since that visit.

Music Clip

The Band: Chris Schmitt and Matt Barrios

Home

Photographs by Robert H. Mason