Fall ahead, Spring back

Fall on my face ...

Again, erase and reuse defines palimpsest, a great old word long forgotten ‘til yesterday, but here we go again. And yet again, my earliest memory of the Time Change will always be a chilly Fall Sunday morning in 1957, Navy Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island. Waking momentarily, realizing, snuggling back down in my cot. Wicked Good. Fall back, Spring ahead. Every year this Lenten morning I wish it were Fall ahead, Spring back. Maybe it is. A few folks will be an hour off for church either way.

And yet again one more time, it brings to mind. A friend who was an accomplished musician and singer -- she was a priest’s wife at the time -- used to play and lead the singing at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church here in town. She told me about singing the hymn “Let us break bread together on our knees” during Communion one Sunday. Said that the first time through the refrain she got the phrase upside down and sang, “When I fall on my face with my knees to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.” Realized she had sung it backwards. Tried too hard the next time to get it right, couldn’t remember which way was up, got more and more confused as she went along, and ended up singing it inside out every time. 

When I fall on my face with my knees to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

God rest her soul, this morning Wendy is singing where there is no time change forever. 

Fall ahead, Spring back.

Tom+