and it burns, burns, burns

E. stand at the sink with two plastic cups in her hand. She runs the water, whether or not the cups are filling up. She sings, “I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher” E. is four and somehow in her best Johnny Cash voice she weaves the word “water” into her song though it’s not the way she learned it.

I wonder about the grown lives of children who are schooled on Ring of Fire rather than Row Row Your Boat. Will her life have more pain than the whimsical creatures who believe that “life is but a dream.” Will her life burn? Or will Johnny have paved the way and let walk be like a river boat cruise? Are his words the warnings and precautions which the rowers never know?

All my questions are silly now. She’s four and filling cups of water and the fire burning in her words are just words. She hasn’t attached meaning to them yet. That’s just me doing that.