Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Complicated Pumpkin Shadow

I'm ripping off my gentle reader Kristian here, but I like this poem he quoted on his blog. The author even mentions shadows:

My senses open to this time and place
studder steps and craning necks
and we all fall about the place
this is where we came to hold hands
to wait on promises made good
by tradition and sorrows
my voice came
and the planes came
and they opened up their bays
to blue sky crying for some rain
and rain they did
I took my place
and put a little checkmark next to my heart
to remember this place for some other day
to live in the half life is exactly as it sounds
half taste
half pain
half dead
but wide awake in half light
I figure now i've lived just 18 years
as the other half of me
in mothballs and vanilla cream
patiently holds out for a little more
and fallen bells tumble her cross as bent as me
as we wave, the family and I, to what was
what was lives in the shadows
but it is the shadows of god's grace
my shadows all man made
gray and smokey turns
come along to this place where we stood
proud and happy and so understood
lest faith should follow faith
and love should follow love

Billy Corgan, "Half Light, Half Life," in "Blinking with Fists." Some of you may remember Corgan as the lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins. The line about being wide awake in a half-light resonated strongly with me, as I have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake, thinking about life, the universe, and everything.

2 comments:

Refuge said...

You got the book, then? :) I always liked his song lyrics, so for me it was a sure thing. Really enjoyed this little book of his, and I hope there will be more to come. I think a lot of musicians could make great poetry collections. Imagine the likes of Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Neil Young.. ahh.. :)

Randy said...

Actually, I googled the poem, but I've flipped through the book at Barnes & Noble. I may actually buy it one of these days.