16 - Which Bridge Do You Cross and Which Do You Burn?

There is deep reflectiveness in the selection for today.  A good friend played it for me while we were driving at night.  I'll be honest, I want to know more from the artist, but I haven't gone back to explore more than this one song.  By all creative tones and sounds, I should have.  And I'm sure I will soon.  Especially after listening to it on repeat while writing this.

I was going to do a different song today, but after listening to it, I realized it was a great fit for the final entry.  So, you'll just have to wait 74 more days for that one.

Song 16/Day16

"Drag the Hills," from Ben Weaver on the album, Mirepoix and Smoke.

There is something chilling and exciting about the simple banjo and vocals on this song.  It keeps a steady pace from beginning to end, only adding slight percussion (an occasional beat on a bass drum, or some other deep hollow device) on the last third of the tune.

The lyrics are very poetic and the chorus conveys an age old ideal, to live with the scars of the choice you make, or hide from life and stay safe.  It's something that struck me deeply.  As I keep making plans and dreams for things down the road but never really made any progress on them.  I won't say this song alone made that change...but it certainly got me thinking.

The Autumn tie in for me goes along with the weather I'm experiencing this morning.  It's chilly and damp.  I'm surrounded by the same woods as yesterday, and there is a haunting stillness to them, aside from an occasional bird flitting by or chirruping deep into the trees.

This song conjures up images of a young man sitting in an old log cabin deep in the woods.  He's at some turning point in his life, and either by choice or circumstance, found himself in the elder dwelling with no modernity.  He tends the fire for warmth and to cook his meals.  It is a mean place, not much in the way of luxury, but there is a certain coziness to it.  Simple.

He spends the days wandering the wood or stream.  Just taking in the nature.   Experiencing the feel of tree bark under his fingers, the cold water on his feet.  The smell of the moldering leaves on the forest floor.  He has a choice to make.  And he's learning about himself here.  Searching.  Exploring his soul as much as his surroundings.

Then he comes across an ancient tree.  It is huge.  Branches scraping the heavens.  But it has a giant scar across it's trunk.  It blemishes yet enhances the tree.  He stops in awe and just looks at the tree in front of him.  Despite having this damage ruin it's life, the tree grew and flourished anyway.

He spends some time taking it in.  Then, he heads back to the cabin, packs the few things he has and returns to his life.  Deciding that he'd:

rather have scars from the life I've lived
than have none from the one I missed

So today, don't just enjoy some music, but confront whatever it is you're afraid will scar you...and if you have to, take the scar.  It seems in today's society we all want to stay perfect and clean, at least in America.  Or do work that doesn't involve a danger.  Many of us, including myself, would rather be safe and secure and know what was coming instead of living life free and wild.

I made my mind up that I too would rather have the scars of life, than none from hiding.

"Drag the Hills," by Ben Weaver from the album, "Mirepoix and Smoke."

-Jesse