While I understood that this move to this new house and isolated area were creating an emotional and physical strain, I thought that it was only a matter of fatigue, and that I simply was running myself out of the energy that I use to maintain patience and so on; however, it occurred to me this morning that I am also too full of a different kind of energy, namely that which I used to thoroughly engage with people in the classrooms and at home and in the community and so forth. Empathetic interaction used to burn off the burgeoning fuel related to how I feel when engaging with people, and how I help them and myself to process the world.

I have spoken elsewhere about my introversion, and my more ambiverted ability to behave in an extraverted fashion at work and so on. I have a small group of close friends, and we do not tend to engage in surface chatter. I need time to rejuvenate if I have to maintain a good social presence with large groups of people. I need and love my alone time.

But I also enjoy just wandering through crowds when I don’t have a particular place that I need to be, and when those people are just going about their daily lives, such as at the mall or an outdoor market and so on. I connect with sweeping reads of facial expressions and body language and so forth. I like parsing the murmur. 

And I like getting together with my close friends and engaging in deep, meaningful conversations… as well as in lighter fare.

All I’ve been doing recently is getting full to the brim with the energy that I use during my empathetic encounters, and it’s spilling over. It has no useful place to go, and keeping it from getting frenetic and jumping out is capacity issue that is wearing.

So, naturally, I wrote a song about it.

Pretty much as soon as I started to think/feel about the problem, the chorus came out… especially the part about swearing into the air. And it was oom-pah-pah (waltzy) circus klezmer calliope music right from the very beginning, which is good because I got a Yamaha EZ-310 a while back and that kind of ponderous note playing is something that I can do well enough to support the melodic score generation.

For a few minutes, though, it offered to be a tango (as sort of a leftover from the previous song); however, tango lyrics tend to be longingly nostalgic, or full of regret, and that sort of thing, and that wasn’t the atmosphere that I wanted.

I was influenced by the “Oom Pah Pah” song from the movie Oliver! because how could I not be? Mostly it was just the notion of the barmaid leading the crowd in a sing-along.

The part about the mouse leaving is true.

[2026-05]

Lyrics

Spin around and

    fill me up

warm drink in a buttercup

Friendly little

    pick-me-up

shared cathartic followup

Chatting in the

    buffet car

story-time spill at the bar

This is what

    emotions are

overflowing cookie jar

Share with me

Care with me

Prayer

    for everywhere with me

There with me

Dare with me

Swear

    into the air with me

Thunderstorms they

    music me

dancing round in antic glee

Lightning crash of

    sympathy

kindred bond has let you free

Feel the pain they

    lean toward

careful, don't go overboard

Swirl around with

    love's kind sword

lightening the loads they stored

Share with me

Care with me

Prayer

    for everywhere with me

There with me

Dare with me

Swear

    into the air with me

Dontcha know it

    used ta be

everyone was there with me

Laughing with our

    memories

souls together, bare shade trees

Now I got a

    lonely house

empty of my kids and spouse

Yeah I even

    lost the mouse

Ate the cheese and fled on out

Share with me

Care with me

Prayer

    for everywhere with me

There with me

Dare with me

Swear

    into the air with me

Need to talk with

    folks in town

Ask 'em where they gather 'round

Make new friends

    and settle down

empathy for lost and found

Solitary

    empathy

too much time alone ya see

Solitary

    empathy

Hoping folks will talk with me