June 7, 2008

• And What Can I Do?

  Meadowlark, as sung by Liz Callaway

  When I was a girl, I had a favorite story
  
  Of the meadowlark who lived where the rivers wind
  
  Her voice could match the angels’ in its glory,
  
  But she was blind,
  
  The lark was blind.
  
  
  
  An old king came and took her to his palace,
  
  Where the walls were burnished bronze and golden braid,
  
  And he fed her fruit and nuts from an ivory chalice and he prayed
  
  
  
  “Sing for me, my meadowlark
  
  Sing for me of the silver morning.
  
  Set me free, my meadowlark
  
  And I’ll buy you a priceless jewel,
  
  And cloth of brocade and crewel,
  
  And I’ll love you for life if you will
  
  Sing for me.”
  
  
  
  Then one day as the lark sang by the water
  
  The god of the sun heard her in his flight
  
  And her singing moved him so, he came and brought her
  
  The gift of sight,
  
  He gave her sight.
  
  And she opened her eyes to the shimmer and the splendour
  
  Of this beautiful young god, so proud and strong
  
  And he called to the lark in a voice both rough and tender,
  
  “Come along,
  
  
  
  Fly with me, my meadowlark,
  
  Fly with me on the silver morning.
  
  Past the sea where the dolphins bark,
  
  We will dance on the coral beaches,
  
  Make a feast of the plums and peaches,
  
  Just as far as your vision reaches,
  
  Fly with me.”
  
  
  
  But the meadowlark said no,
  
  For the old king loved her so,
  
  She couldn’t bear to wound his pride.
  
  So the sun god flew away and when the king came down that day,
  
  He found his meadowlark had died.
  
  Every time I heard that part I cried.
  
  
  
  And now I stand here, starry-eyed and stormy.
  
  Oh, just when I thought my heart was finally numb,
  
  A beautiful young man appears before me
  
  Singing “Come! Oh, won’t you come?”
  
  And what can I do if finally for the first time
  
  The one I’m burning for returns the glow?
  
  If love has come at last it’s picked the worst time
  
  Still I know
  
  I’ve got to go.
  
  
  
  Fly away, meadowlark.
  
  Fly away in the silver morning.
  
  If I stay, I’ll grow to curse the dark,
  
  So it’s off where the days won’t bind me.
  
  I know I leave wounds behind me,
  
  But I won’t let tomorrow find me
  
  Back this way.
  
  
  
  Before my past once again can blind me,
  
  Fly away.
  
  
  
  And we won’t wait to say goodbye,
  
  My beautiful young man and I.

  
  

  ---

  As a kid my dad used to play this Liz Callaway CD (you might know her as the singing voice of Anastasia).  She went to his high school, and he likes to listen to Broadway songs.  Meadowlark was by far my favorite song on the CD.  It’s such a beautiful song.

  As a kid I used to think that the meadowlark’s story was a tragedy warning against wrath and pride and glorifying the sacrifice of loyalty.  I thought that sun god punished the lark for her loyalty to the king by killing her when she refused to fly away with him.  It was tragic, but at least the lark had done the right thing.

  As an adult revisiting the song, I have realized that I had the meaning completely wrong.  The lark made the wrong decision, and the woman singing the song learned from the mistake.  The god doesn’t kill the lark, rather the lark dies because she chooses to stay.  The god knew that she needed the freedom of leaving the nest, but because the lark was afraid of leaving the king behind, she chose to remain in captivity to please the king, singing on his behalf.  That is the tragedy!  She could have left her comfortable palace cage and instead of singing for him she could have flown for herself.  The lark represents the singer, who knows that she must leave behind her old, captive life to follow her love.  She knows that she’ll leave wounds behind, but she has to fly away with the one who gave her sight, which I interpret as the capacity to love.

  Isn’t that a great song?!  I just wanted to share the thoughts I was having as I listened to that song and decided to post it up here.
  

  • 12:19 pm
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