Song

What is a song?  A song is a statement in sound that runs underneath the currents of the everyday.  It is sustained and connected in time, and to be heard, it relies on the breath.  A song, unlike a symphony or a sonata, is an intimate and individual theme.  Symphonies and sonatas are made up of many songs.  Even in the animal world, songs are individual and unique, small things expressive of the daily chores-sunrise, attracting mate, waking, finding food, greeting friend, or bearing child.

Like the soundtrack for our weekly TV shows, there is a rhythm and idea that plays constantly to highlight the tensions and suspensions of our activities, relationships, and patterns day to day.  It beats a pattern to which we can walk.  It sounds a sorrow with which we can cry.   It's there.  I guarantee it.   When you stop yourself and focus in, you can hear it.  It may be faint, or it may thunder like the calls of cicadas tree to tree.  Each one will sound different.  Each one will have its own message to share, but each one will connect to another, as well.   

Sometimes, you find your song is in harmony with other songs.  Sometimes, whatever it is that is running behind your actions is out of sync, and out of time.  You hear a song on the radio and it says just what you've always known, in exactly the way you need to hear it sung.  It's the song your soul is singing, and someone else has heard it, too.

Maybe what I mean is that a song is a metaphor, but then again, maybe I don't.  Maybe I mean that life really does have music behind it-small, individual themes, sustained and connected in time, relying on the breath to move outward and be heard.