The Mourning Dove

"I wrote this song for my mother on the day my father passed away. They had been married for 63 years. When my father breathed his last, my mother began to cry, but pulled herself together very quickly. “It’s okay to cry, Mom,” I said. “No it’s not,” she replied. “If I start to cry, I won’t be able to stop and I’ll just drown in my own tears.”

When I got home that night, I sat down and wrote this song in one sitting. The melody is a full sixteen bars, but it flowed out of me all at once. I was going for a Rhiannon Giddens feel: Americana with some mournful Celtic overtones. Mia Boostrom and Brad Goff gave amazing performances on vocals and piano, respectively. Daniel Tavani did the elegant string arrangement, which really helps capture the sorrow of the lyrics."

The mourning dove sits at my window

Singing her song, lonesome and blue

How does she know just what I’m thinking?

How could she know I’m thinking of you?

Oh mourning dove, cry for us both, can’t let my tears fall right now

I’m in a deep well, don’t want to start crying, for if I do, I fear I may drown

The mourning dove sits at my window

Wordless with grief, hidden from view

How could she know just what I’m feeling?

Did she lose someone like you?

Oh mourning dove, cry for us both, can’t let my tears fall right now

I’m in a deep well, afraid to start crying, for if I do, I surely will drown

The mourning dove just flew from my window

Who else do I have? Who can I turn to?

I pray she returns to comfort and heal me

Until I wake not thinking of you

Oh mourning dove, carry my pain, carry my grief, carry it all

Until the day I’m ready to bear it, until my tears are ready to fall

Vocals - Mia Boostrom

Piano - Brad Goff

Cello - Daniel Tavani

Violin - Eva Walsh

Viola - Eva Walsh