Empathy Mining
A couple weeks ago, I did something I almost never do–I wrote a poem. For some reason, I had a couple of phrases bouncing around in my head that would not leave me alone. They sounded more poetic than the kinds of things that normally spark me to sit down and write. So, rather reluctantly, I decided to give in and see where it took me. I didn’t expect to like it much. But to my surprise, I didn’t hate what came out. In fact, I rather liked it.
What started out as a couple of phrases about how greed and nationalism can consume one’s faith and morality had turned into what seemed like a song of resistance–my little poem felt like it wanted to be a song. I shared the poem with my Sister-in-Law, who happens to be musically gifted. She liked it very much. I asked her if her daughter–my niece–a high school senior–also with a gift for music and a guitar player–would be interested in setting my poem to music. A few days later, I got a text with a rough demo of the song, Soul Blind. It was sparse and haunting–just the way it wanted to be. I was blown away. In fact, it moved me to tears. I had never been a part of writing a song before and I found it to be a powerful and moving experience to hear the words I had birthed transformed by music.
Over the next few days, my niece, Meredith, began to tweak our song. I gave her a couple of ideas of what I imagined for the mood and feel of the song. It needed a chorus, so I wrote one, which wasn’t a part of the original poem. After a couple more demos, Meredith had captured the essence of what this song wanted to be and, to me, it became a thing of beauty.
I decided to create a video to give the whole thing a visual element. I’ll share with you the link to the final product at the end of this post.
I have printed the lyrics for reference below.
Soul Blind
Modify the river’s course
Make the waters work for you
Cast your lots with loaded dice
Make sure all that’s old is new
Keep on preaching to the choir
It’s getting smaller every day
I’m sure they’ll validate your sins
You never loved me anyway
Chorus:
You claim that you have seen the light
But light can be of different kinds
Some light can open up your heart
Some light can make you go soul blind
Go on and claim that you own God
And let the wretched refuse yearn
Those shithole rats will do you harm
Sit on the wall and watch them burn
When the least of those your brother
Lies beneath your boot in line
You’ll just carry on as always
Unaware you’ve gone soul blind
Chorus:
You claim that you have seen the light
But light can be of different kinds
Some light can open up your heart
Some light can make you go soul blind
Store up treasures while you can
Shove the camel through the eye
Fly that private jet to heaven
And take it with you when you die
Count up all your silver pieces
But they won’t even pay your fine
When the judge hands down your sentence
Convicted, cold, soul blind
Chorus:
You claim that you have seen the light
But light can be of different kinds
Some light can open up your heart
Some light can make you go soul blind
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