When all is said and done, when the sun rises or when it sets, ultimately I consider myself a writer. My heart longs to be a great writer. My Muse encourages me to keep at it (on days when she’s speaking to me). Sometimes, though, it is difficult to find inspiration and so, on those days, I seek solace in music.
Song writers are great story tellers. One of my favorites is Sting. A lot of his songs are stories, if you listen to their lyrics. They mean only as much as the story tells, but because of the way they are spoken (or sung, in this case), the imagination has the opportunity to take the story and nourish it into something far more wonderful.
Today, I was especially inspired by “After the Rain Falls”. I have heard that song dozens of times and it was only today that I caught lines like:
He was as gentle as the night wind
As no lover had been before
And the rings she wore for her bride groom
Slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor
“…As gentle as the night wind.” It got me thinking. Normally, in conversation, I might say something was as gentle as a lamb. It’s easy and what is more gentle than a little lamb? Then I started to ask myself, “What else is gentle?”
A mother’s touch. It is soft and warm like an early-autumn breeze. It carries the assurance and strength of ten-thousand armies. It is all that is real when the rest of the world seems so cold and painful.
As I listened to this music and mused on the inspiration of the lyrics, a whole world unraveled before me, new ways of expressing old thoughts. It brings new courage to this often-doubting heart.
With that, I give you a video for Sting’s “After the Rain Falls”. I must admit, I actually enjoyed letting my imagination run with the lyrics when listening to the song, more so than watching the video, but who knows. Maybe someone else out there needs some visual inspiration too.
