“Water and Stone” (Ottersongs)
(Lyrics of a song I wrote when debating whether to continue onwards in academia toward PostDocs and tenure-track, or to take a break to pursue a passion for music composition and performance).
The solidness of flesh is just imagined
we’re more like water in a flowing stream:
channeled by a sluice of rock eroded
and flowing from a gentle hidden spring.
So how much like the stone
and how much like the water
is our way in life?
Should we be the strong eroded by the water?
Or the changing waves?
That dance.
We start our lives like spring-melt from the mountains
rushing silver-laughter down the slopes
exploring every new path with excitement
and splashing rainbows everywhere we go.
Everything is new,
the growing river’s strong and agile,
as it speeds down hill.
Leaping over cliffs,
so fearless of the separations,
still the river flows.
