Pausing: Love x3

This post is to pause and come back to the breath; to step away and be in the moment and try to be open to something beautiful amidst such an evil day. Perhaps, the best that can be done for now is to step back and allow the magic of a song to be summoned.

Tulip introduced me to the music of Christine Kane, whom I believe she discovered through Sark's website. She's among the few musicians that I feel are actually better in live performance than studio album (I'm listening to the live version of the song below as I work on this post).

This one is among my all time favorites:

If'n you're interested, the words are as beautiful as the music (at least to these partially deaf ears, which have done their best to transcribe them here):

Let out a long sigh under a low sky, I'm coming home to you.
I'm feeling nervous. I'm always nervous. I'm always passing through.
Noise all around me sounds like graffiti in this broken land.
Where we tell you what we will sell you and we will shake your hand.
Ten-thousand times I've wondered aloud why we don't die of fear.

And, I dream, now, to wake-up all the love inside of me; times three.
And, I see how the light alone is all we need to be, yeah.

I am the big love; the magic wand of the one who hung the moon.
And, I am the camera. I am the paint brush and I'm down in the deepest gloom.
Oh, I want a kingdom. I want a ride home. I want a big, wide room.

And, I dream, now, to wake-up all the love inside of me; times three.
And, I see how the light alone is all we need to be.
Aren't we?
The wars are behind us, the marks are erased.
The danger is over, the altar's in place.
The damage is likely to leave when embraced by these tears.

Maybe we're crazy? I think we're lonely and I think we're wide awake.
What is your passion? Where is your dungeon? What was your worst mistake?
Or, will you make your days replay your dreams?
Hoh-uh-huh-hoh, in dreams...
Yeah-ee-yeah, in dreams...

At first glance it could be interpreted as coming back to a partner and engaging in a reconciliatory conversation after a long and painful separation.

Looking again, the conversation is with one's self.

In the Buddhist tradition, the path towards becoming a bodhisattva involves nurturing maitri—loving kindness—which Pema Chodron describes in her book Comfortable With Uncertainty (#5, Loving Kindness: The Essential Practice) as:

In cultivating loving kindness, we learn first to be honest, loving, and compassionate towards ourselves. Rather than nurturing self-denigration, we begin to cultivate a clear-seeing kindness.

Perhaps, the best way to leave this post off is with an encore?