I Think That I Shall Never See
I have very fond memories, as a teenager, staying up well after midnight on a school night listening to Trip Hop and writing poetry. And I suppose that may come as a shock for many of you. However, if you really think about it, you’d probably say, “yea I could see that.”
At any rate, I chose to listen to Trip Hop because it gave me the cathartic feeling of sadness and loneliness that was so familiar to me. I was a lonely kid growing up so listening to Trip Hop and writing poetry was like flipping through old photos of a lost love or reliving happier times that are painful to remember. Unfortunately I used to be an arrogant poet. I believed that if you could not say what you felt within 10 lines, then you couldn’t be a poet. Now, almost 17 years older (and wiser) I’ve learned that to define poetry is to destroy it. It’s nebulous, free form and is restricted only by one’s own inhibitions. Despite this revelation, I still believe in the 10 line poem, only now I have different reasons. Now, I believe that poetry is an attempt at capturing something intangible using horribly inadequate tools: words. Now instead of using 10 lines in arrogance, I use them in humility. An acknowledgement that my attempt at using ‘words’ to define emotions is doomed to fail. There’s no way to express in words that fleeting moment when you smell the perfume/cologne of an old flame in a crowd of people, and the pang in your heart that follows.
The point in me explaining my thought process when it comes to poetry is because I feel song lyrics fall into that category. And Trip Hop lyrics have a tendency to hit that emotional hotspot of happy sadness. In one of my favorite Dr. Who episodes “Blink,” there’s a line the main character says when asked why she likes old things when they make her feel sad…
“It’s happy for deep people.”
I suppose that some of you will know exactly what I’m talking about after reading this. I know two of you probably will (Smith and Tee Ags). Others of you will probably read into the lyrics too much and think that I’m referring to the pain of lost love or some other emo crap. I’m not. I’m not crying over the loss of a dead butterfly or indulging in self loathing or some other stupid cliché. I’m just an old poet who’s giving a wink and a nod to others who see the world in a different “Colour”.
Soulstice – “Colour”
I’m alone with you so far
It doesn’t matter where you are
I want to wash up on your shore
More beauty then i’ve seen before no secret lover
Will ever take the place of you
Colour me blue
As you
I want to see you yesterday
The little things in your way
It’s in your eyes i realize
The parallels of our disguise
No single other
Can understand my point of view
[Chorus]
With you now i’ve come to find
That my love for you was blind
Was it the depths of your sea
That pulled me from you
Or you from me
I want to see you yesterday
The little things in your way
Your happiness and sorrow too
They only come in shades of blue
But no other colour
Could give off quite a hue
[Chorus]
