Jess KAPS
I wrote the song, "Sycamore" on October 9, 2019 for a family therapy course assignment. I am so grateful for that class, the people in it, and I had no idea how useful it would be given life's major changes in store. We are all connected, every one of us. Never forget this. One simple action we make impacts many lives, human, animal, plant, fungi, rock, weather patterns, celestial... things you cannot even begin to comprehend.
There is a real tree on which this song is based, my favorite sycamore located in Harvard, Massachusetts, that is 400 years old. Yet this tree is a metaphor for family trees. The wisdom and hurt of the generations is passed down... from one to the next... they bleed into each other... they are a part of me. Yet at times I feel so disconnected from family. The women especially. I constantly crave the knowledge of their stories. Their wisdom. Their insight. Their lived human experience.
But. They show up in remarkable ways. I am forever connected to them. Just like the trees. Gentle earthen power harnessed from within.
“Sycamore”
Music & lyrics by Jess Kaps, October 9, 2019
Driving by the sycamore tree
Pondering life's mysteries
I picture what you must have seen
Cycles doomed for infinite repeat
Crashed my car upon the bridge
I gave up on fixing it
And honestly who gives a shit?
When it takes the sound of an accident
To hear anything
Do you hear the sirens?
Do you hear my silence?
Do you hear the screaming?
Do you even notice?
Do you want to change...?
Walking past the sycamore tree
Four hundred years of mystery
I ask what you mean to me
Growing, love, loss, history.