Shelley Brucar
"Carousel of Time"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
Joni Mitchell’s Carousel of Time relates a child’s journey to adulthood. My carousel references seasons. Both tell the story of passing time and natural transitions.
Winter shows snowy lands, a lone goose wandering. Joni Mitchell’s young boy enjoys his youth, “Yesterday a child came out to wonder, Caught a dragonfly inside a jar”.
In Spring buds appear on trees and flowers. Mitchell’s child at 10 sees “…promises of someday”.
Summer brings new life, trees full, flowers blooming. At 16,
“Cartwheels turn to car wheels”.
Fall gives us the last colors of the year in brilliant red and gold leaves. Leaves fall and flowers die, but there are hopes for his future. At age 20, “Though his dreams have lost some grandeur… There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty”.
“the seasons they go round and round… We can’t return we can only look behind from where we came…”