It is understood that we are only just now seeing the light from stars that may have been extinguished or imploded (or whatever happens when a star dies) years after the fact. Is that comforting or disturbing? I can’t quite decide. It’s certainly a bit of a mind-fuck when it comes to time and perception and the purpose or pointlessness of our tiny place in the universe.
A similar sense of displacement and fuckery is at work when I find myself on the verge of sleep and wake, suspended in that dream-like bardo of worlds where what is real blends confusingly with what is past, what may have never come to pass, and what has yet to come to pass. Ghosts haunt that borderline realm – the ghosts of time: past, present and future – like some Ebenezer Scrooge parable.
Long ago, and oh, so far awayI fell in love with you before the second showYour guitar, it sounds so sweet and clearBut you’re not really here, it’s just the radio
Don’t you remember, you told me you loved me baby?You said you’d be coming back this way again, babyBaby, baby, baby, baby, oh babyI love you, I really do
This haunting cover of ‘Superstar’ by The Carpenters gives me similar pause, an echo of the original that I posted about earlier. The song somehow becomes even more evocative in this version, a hazy visage drained of color like dreams or memories, and if the first post was one of youthful clarity, this one feels fuzzy and messy and the result of all my time on earth.
Loneliness is such a sad affairAnd I can hardly wait to be with you againWhat to say, to make you come again? (Ooh, baby)Come back to me again (Ooh, baby)And play your sad guitar
For almost half a century, I’ve looked up at the same stars – the light from thousands of years ago. While my body aches and creaks and says so much time has passed, in relation to the stars this is merely a blip in the story of the universe. It lends all of us a certain humility, and humility will always be one of the most beautiful features of any human being. Too many of us (including myself too much of the time) forget to access or exhibit that at key moments – and every moment can be key when it comes to humility. At so many points, just a little dose of humility could have changed the course of history – personally and universally. When you think of how small we really are in the grand multi-dimensional scheme of time and space, it is gorgeously humbling.
Don’t you remember, you told me you loved me baby?You said you’d be coming back this way again, babyBaby, baby, baby, baby, oh babyI love you, I really do
