PHOTO: KATE VOKOVICH
“Ramona
Come closer
Shut softly your watery eyes
The pangs of your sadness
Shall pass as your senses will rise
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike
Get deathlike at times
And there’s no use in tryin’
T’ deal with the dyin’
Though I cannot explain that in lines“Your cracked country lips
I still wish to kiss
As to be under the strength of your skin
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I’m in
But it grieves my heart, love
To see you tryin’ to be a part of
A world that just don’t exist
It’s all just a dream, babe
A vacuum, a scheme, babe
That sucks you into feelin’ like this“I can see that your head
Has been twisted and fed
By worthless foam from the mouth
I can tell you are torn
Between stayin’ and returnin’
On back to the South
You’ve been fooled into thinking
That the finishin’ end is at hand
Yet there’s no one to beat you
No one t’ defeat you
’Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad“I’ve heard you say many times
That you’re better ’n no one
And no one is better ’n you
If you really believe that
You know you got
Nothing to win and nothing to lose
From fixtures and forces and friends
Your sorrow does stem
That hype you and type you
Making you feel
That you you gotta be just like them“I’d forever talk to you
But soon my words
They would turn into a meaningless ring
For deep in my heart
I know there is no help I can bring
Everything passes
Everything changes
Just do what you think you should do
And someday maybe
Who knows, baby
I’ll come and be cryin’ to you”
~Bob Dylan “To Ramona”
Copyright © 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1992 by Special Rider Music
13 comments
Rebecca says:
Jun 13, 2014
One of my favorite Dylan songs.
Catalina says:
Jun 14, 2014
Today is the perfect day for me to receive this. Thank you mystic mamma!
LEAH ROSE says:
Jun 17, 2014
Perfect.
Nichole says:
Jun 17, 2014
I needed this x this website is healing for me
Mario says:
Jun 19, 2014
Thanks Bob
Celestial says:
Jun 25, 2014
Exactly.
Satya says:
Jun 27, 2014
I would like to share this Dylan poem with my daughter because it is such an excellent description of my love for her. And to let her know that I do understand. MOM
Ronald Glenn says:
Jul 16, 2014
Thank you very much.First time I took the opportunity to really listen to Dylan.
Rhonda says:
Sep 19, 2016
Yes.
Mary B. says:
Sep 19, 2016
This morning reading this ballad and these words, especially the lines “The flowers of the city/though breathlike/Get deathlike at times” and seeing the image you posted of a girl touching the water bring a new context of meaning in light of all that is happening environmentally with our water and land due to fracking. I feel so powerless and long for a more harmonious way of living because this place, this earth has so much beauty that needs protecting. “Your magnetic movements/ still capture the minutes I’m in” is a line that exists because we are made up of the same matter as the Universe and our bodies do respond to the “magnetic movements.” Dylan’s song is about having an awareness of one’s path and not conforming to what society says we are “supposed to be,” but I see how the lines “it grieves my heart, love/To see you tryin’ to be a part of/A world that just don’t exist” can also be read as someone seeing the other as naive about the world and being manipulated, “your head has been twisted and feed.” Even though speaker is troubled by this, he still has some faith in the person he is talking to and believes that world can be something beautiful despite its greed and destruction and lies, if we turn within because the speaker in the ballad later says, “Just do what you think you should do.” The speaker begins the song with with the understanding and acceptance that there are some things we can’t change, “there’s no use in trying’/T’ deal with the dyin’,”and he moves from the outer circumstances of sadness to the inner world with lines like “Yet there’s no one to beat you/No one t’ defeat you/’Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad.” Ultimately we have to decide how we are going to deal with our sadness. Then he ends on a positive note, remembering that despite whatever ails us, despite our resistance or fears, there is a cycle to life “Everything passes/Everything changes” and that maybe if we live our best “Just do what you think you should do” then maybe we will be make a difference, maybe we will be strong enough to offer support and be a shoulder for someone else when they are weak and in need of a friend, “And someday maybe/Who knows, baby/I’ll come and be cryin’ to you.” So even if we can’t change outer circumstances, we can always change the inner ones. <3
Ramona says:
Sep 19, 2016
My name is Ramona and I came to this sight today 19 Sept 2016, because I am feeling particularly in need of inspirational and positive thoughts as I am mourning still the loss of my dear mother and watching my husband go through cancer treatments. Seeing the title “everything passes, everything changes” was so wonderful to see, but then when I began to read “Ramona, come closer…” my heart skipped a beat. These words written & sung by Dylan so long ago have a particularly poignant meaning for me today. Thank you so much for reminding me that indeed everything passes, everything changes but we should just do what we thing we should do.
Frontier Girl says:
Sep 21, 2016
Oh be still my pounding heart…. I resonate on so many levels with the song, the context, the comments, the whole thing. I am a water and land care advocate in various capacities for the northern Rio Grande in New Mexico. I live in a community of incredible diversity, adversity, economic polarity in the extreme, landscape beauty in the unbelievable category. The history is rich, raw and recent! I grew up in the southern (more white) part of the state and have learned a lesson or two since moving the the wild frontier of northern NM. I am a single mother. Today I feel the deep sadness of a dying mother crying for her children….the Earth Mother is crying for her children right now. We have lost our way and we MUST find our way back… I feel the strength of the ancestors and the cords of connection to inner earth and the another cord that connects me to Ra, Sun, Source and yet another cord that connects me to the central sun of our galaxy. May we clear our minds, open our hearts, and seek to cut open the infection that is now at a bulging capacity on Earth (which is also within each of us)…open the infection and purify the wound. Earth’s children are ready for a reckoning and a cleansing. Let it come in a good way.
motorbill says:
Aug 28, 2018
The last six lines, my friends. The last six lines. That’s what the song is about.