Listening to Dinah Washington’s This Bitter Earth while taking a walk through Washington Square Park at dawn is an existential experience. As Washington’s husky voice fills the crevices of my mind, the despair that oozes out of every word leaves me trembling:
This bitter earth
Well, what fruit it bears
This bitter earth
And if my life is like the dust
That hides the glow of a rose
What good am I?
Heaven only knows
This bitter earth
Can it be so cold?
Today you are young
Too soon you are old
But while a voice
Within me cries
I’m sure someone
May answer my call
And this bitter earth
May not be so bitter after all
Music: Dinah Washington / Max Richter – This Bitter Earth / On The Nature Of Daylight
Photography: Yours truly
