The Crossing

Next month, June 14 to be exact, will mark the 11th anniversary of my father's death. He died while he and I were on a cross-country trip to the Rockies and the Three Sisters (Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon). He died while we were hiking up the North Rim Trail from the floor of the Grand Canyon on the last day of our trip. The trip had been the culmination of many years of effort on both our parts to repair a relationship that had gone sour in my teens.

About a month after my father died, I went to see Johnny Clegg and Savuka live at the 9:30 Club in D.C. During the show, the band played a song called "The Crossing". In introducing the song, Johnny Clegg said that in Zulu tradition, when a person dies suddenly, their spirit does not know it. The spirit wanders the Earth feeling all of the things living people feel until it realizes it is not a part of the world anymore and crosses into the spirit realm. Johnny dedicated the song to a band mate who had been killed in Soweto and, "...to any one else here going through a crossing." I sat on the steps in the club and wept. It's a beautiful song.

I miss my dad.

THE CROSSING
Johnny Clegg & Savuka

Through all the days that eat away
at every breath that I take
through all the nights I've lain alone
in someone else's dream, awake
all the words in truth we have spoken
that the wind has blown away
it's only you that remains with me
clear as the light of day

Chorus:

O Siyeza, o siyeza , sizofika webaba noma
(we are coming, we are coming, we will arrive soon)
O siyeza, o siyeza, siyagudle lomhlaba
(we are coming, we are coming, we are moving across this earth)
Siyawela lapheshaya lulezontaba ezimnyama
(we are crossing over those dark mountains)
Lapha sobheka phansi konke ukhulupheka
(where we will lay down our troubles)

A punch drunk man in a downtown bar
takes a beating without making a sound
through swollen eyes he sways and smiles
'cause noone can put him down
inside of him a boy looks up to his father
for a sign or an approving eye
oh, it's funny how those once so close and now gone
can still so affect our lives

Chorus

Take me now, don't let go
hold me close, I'm coming home

Chorus