I’m going to go full circle today. In my very first post, I spoke of a song by one of my current favorite bands, Mumford and Sons. Well, it took me a while (music purchases are a luxury for me), but I eventually purchased the cd. I have not been able to take it out of my cd player ever since! It is rare that I love every song on a cd, but this cd is a rare piece of art indeed. Every song touches me, wraps in emotions, and I never tire of the poetry in the lyrics. Sigh No More is the name of the cd and I highly recommend it. But, I’m not here to sell records. I wanted to talk about another song. The title is “White Blank Page”.  Here are the first few lines:

“Can you lie next to her

  And give her your heart

         Your heart, as well as your body

         And can you lie next to her

           

         And confess your love

         Your love, as well as your folly…”

Tell me you didn’t get goose bumps. Ok, perhaps you are not as emotional and romantic as I, but the power in those lines pulls me in. And while lyrics have their own meaning for each individual, this to me is what love is. True love allows you to give all of yourself to someone, body and soul. You open yourself up, strip away all pretenses, and fall to your knees. Have you ever experienced this? Do you feel it now?

“But tell me now, where was my fault

         In loving you with my whole heart…”

 Have you ever asked that? Have you wondered why sometimes love isn’t enough? Why you can offer your heart to someone and they can turn and walk away? Why you were wrong to love them in the first place? Love can be so brutal. It can give you wings, but it can clip them as well. It can call you to the light or shut you in the dark.

          “A white blank page and a swelling rage

           You did not think when you sent me to the brink

           You desired my attention but denied my 

           

           affections..."         

 A white blank page…What does that mean to you? I see it as all the things you want, you need, you mean to say but can’t.  It’s the pain that tears through you that you have no words for.  And a swelling rage. That is the anger, the fire that love can sometimes ignite. It burns you up, sears your soul. The anger of love unrequited, love denied, love betrayed.

People don’t always think about what they do and the hurt it can cause. And it is the people we love who will hurt us the most. Because they are the ones with the power to do so. They may not realize what they are capable of, how they can push you to the edge, to the point of breaking.  They may not even mean to do it, but they can and they do.

Have you ever given of yourself, only to realize it is not you they want? Have you ever looked into someone’s eyes and seen that faraway look that tells you they are thinking of someone else? Have you stayed by someone’s side, given them everything they need, loved them, only to be denied entrance to their heart? I have. But I have also been on the other side. I imagine we have all had the miserable experience of not being loved and not being able to love.

Now, I will not pretend to understand exactly what Mumford and Sons mean to say. And as I said before, songs touch different people in different ways, and they take on their own meaning in each soul. All I can do is tell you what the song means to me.

Please, listen, and find your own meaning.