From the recording The Emergent Sea
Based on both general feelings of unfulfilled longings and the Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, ''The Fall of Icarus'' ca 1558 Musees royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels which was first introduced to me by Dr. Eileen Preston in her Mythology II class at Concordia University, Montreal, in 1987. In the painting, Icarus falls to his death while the farmer who ploughs his field and the merchant ship continue their business entirely ignorant of his tragedy. There is an overwhelming focus on success in most art, movies and stories in our post- modern culture, but most of us are like Icarus, failed and unnoticed. The painting itself was modeled on earlier paintings, the earliest we know of dating from 1st c B.C. Rome. And both W.H Auden and William Carlos Williams have written poems based on it.
Lyrics
The Horizon: Lyrics
The light that's in her eyes, Makes me smile and makes me cry. For like a light upon the sea It's a light that I can't reach.
And the softness of her skin Makes me grin, but does me in Like sunrise's soft glow and such It's a softness I can't touch.
Chorus
If you learn that longing lives on the horizon That fire in your eyes will wizen, Wings of wax will melt in the sky, son But you will surely fall in someone else's horizon.
But the farmer who ploughs in his field, Won't even notice your tragic plunge And as he gathers in his yield,You can scream with all of your lungs.
And ships upon the sea May think some large fish made that splash. And as you sink into the deep. They continue on their merchant's path.
Chorus 2When I'm longing & lusting, my heart it keep busting. From the crest to the trough, I'm tossing not trusting.The hull of this ship feels like its rusting.I know I should let go, but I must have you.
Well the sweet scent of her breath Is a worthwhile form of death. The sound and voice so dear Of the voice that you can't hear.
But artists will paint and poets will speak, Capture the horizon of which you seek. And from the fall in which you die the love of the lover will rise.
Chorus 3But the longing & lusting are a boat's busting From the prow to the stern this ship is rusting From the crest to the trough this boat is tossing. But I can't stop the wanting and the longing: oh I must have you.