On the quest of a breaking wave
In the hollow of a breaking heart
In the glare of a breaking dawn
Things break apart
- Breaking (from Keg)
A breaking heart, a breaking dawn, a breaking wave: different kinds of breaking. These are some of the lyrics from a song that I wrote sometime around 2020. Obviously a time when it seemed things were breaking. It can still seem that way.
But the song has other particles to challenge the sense of fragmentation, sung in a counterpoint to the above lyrics.
We all clapped, clapped our hands and danced, when the daffodils grew,
We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced when the swallows flew,
We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced, when they opened town
We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced, when the walls came down.
These are optimistic scenes, maybe naively so, but for me, a little optimism can go a long way - can give something to hang your hat on. To me, that’s more motivating than endless scenes of darkness. Music is a good medium for this type of reflection as it doesn’t stand still, it can change, go dark and then light, be broken, be whole.