Mission....

http://new.music.yahoo.com/rush/videos/view/mission--41179774

I thought of this song a couple of days ago. I was watching some indie movie and a particular piece of dialog, a letter actually, between the two main characters. It was striking at how much I was affected by the words. The characters were nothing special, a lonely middle aged man who befriended a teenage girl, but the man tried to express his own longing, his desire to have children of his own, and his own failings…that is what impressed me. It was a wonderful piece of dialog. I certainly can’t relate, having children that sometimes I want to place in a box in the closet (family joke).

The song is by Rush, my favorite band, and by my favorite lyricist, Neil Peart. That he too is amazed by the things around him is not lost on me. The album is old, and it came out while I was on my mission (Danbury, CT) and it was the first thing I listened to when I was released from that task. It was a particularly emotional time for me but a time where the songs on the album really connected. This song in particular is strongly emotional for me. I struggle with finding the words to write, to express what I feel. Or, I have a program or task running through my mind and I can’t sleep until it is out, on paper or running on the computer. I guess I have a little of the creativity mentioned myself.

I especially like this line.

“We each pay a fabulous price, for our visions of paradise”

I really like that line.

Below, the full lyrics of the song:

 

Hold your fire
Keep it burning bright
Hold the flame 'til the dream ignites
A spirit with a vision is a dream
With a mission

I hear their passionate music
Read the words that touch my heart
I gaze at their feverish pictures
The secrets that set them apart

When I feel the powerful visions
Their fire has made alive
I wish I had that instinct
I wish I had that drive

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire
Focused high on soaring ambitions
Consumed in a single desire

In the grip of a nameless possession
A slave to the drive of obsession
A spirit with a vision is a dream
With a mission

I watch their images flicker
Bringing light to a lifeless screen
I walk through their beautiful buildings
And I wish I had their dreams
But dreams don't need to have motion
To keep their spark alive
Obsession has to have action
Pride turns on the drive

It's cold comfort
To the ones without it
To know how they struggled
How they suffered about it
If their lives were exotic and strange
They would likely have gladly exchanged them
For something a little more plain
Maybe something a little more sane

We each pay a fabulous price
For our visions of paradise
But a spirit with a vision is a dream
With a mission