Lawyers Road Review

By now in my practice I have come to recognize those things I may cherish my children may find to be so much junk they have to off load when I have passed on from this earth. Regularly I hear the tale of houses packed with bits and pieces of personal property, often still in the box the decedent purchased this treasure in decades ago.

Good china, old clocks, old cars and garments all fill the inventory of a life. Sad in a way, how people perceive these things which they wish us to enjoy. Somehow the moment in time which the object filled with such hope and joy has passed, and we cannot see the value the original owner once did.  

So one day I picked up the guitar and decided to write a song about this and all the instructions that are left behind along with perhaps some lament they never found time to use that which is now bequeathed to us.

For the record, my mother used her good china at every opportunity. But here is the song about most of us.

The Shrine they Left Behind

Jim Bob kept that guitar, gonna learn to play one day
He also kept some old cars, Fords and Chevrolet’s
Aunt Sally kept the kimono, like a lady from Japan
Now they have passed on, and left it on our hands
The remains of the shrine they left behind, the remains of the shrine they left behind.

Next door there’s a collection of valuable antiques
Mostly it’s just junk, and the floorboards really creak
But the neighbor cherished it all, every little bit
Left it to me, and it kind of makes me sick.
The remains of the shrine they left behind, the remains of the shrine they left behind.

I know they mean well, doing me a turn
I try to think that way as I carry out the urn
We rent a boat to scatter them at sea
I guess I am remembered, and that matters most to me
I guess I am remembered, and that matters most to me
The remains of the shrine they left behind, the remains of the shrine they left behind.

Jim Bob kept that guitar, gonna learn to play one day
He also kept some old cars, Fords and Chevrolet’s
Aunt Sally kept the kimono, like a lady from Japan
Now they have passed on, and left it on our hands
The remains of the shrine they left behind, the remains of the shrine they left behind.