Note: this is the first in a series of Annotated Readings, in which we reimagine and annotate diverse texts as if they were written from a latter-day saint’s perspective.
Think I’m stranded but I don’t know where[1]Here we find Adam, representing the archetypal man, lost and alone in the Garden of Eden, having forgotten everything
I got this diamond that don’t know how to shine[2]Earth, represented here as a diamond in the rough over which Adam has a stewardship to tend and cultivate, with its celestialized state as “a sea of glass” foreshadowed (see: Revelations … Continue reading
In the sun where these dark winds wail[3]Lucifer and his angels represented as agents of chaos and woe.
And these children leave their rulers behind[4]Adam and his posterity after leaving the Garden, his posterity having rejected the archetypal father, or the faith, traditions, etc. of their progenitors.
As we cross ten leagues from a rubicon[5]The distance between mankind and the Garden has become unbridgeable; the rubicon simultaneously represents the partaking of the forbidden fruit (a bound crossed which “commits a person … Continue reading
With matchsticks for my bones[6]The core structure of the natural man, represented here as brittle and intrinsically self-destructive in its terrestrial state.
If we could learn how to freeze ourselves alive[7]Mankind looks to science for immortality and moral deliverance – as if freezing a matchstick could prevent it from igniting/consuming itself.
We could learn to leave these burdens to burn[8]In connection with the preceding line on matchstick bones, “these burdens” here represent the mounting external burden of the natural man, now externalized to suggest social … Continue reading
Cast out these creatures of woe[9]The burden is represented in an increasingly externalized form as “creatures,” not men.
Who shattered themselves[10]Here suggesting the creatures had successfully frozen themselves in an attempt to achieve immortality, leaving nothing but an oppressive, fractured tradition and highlighting the futility of the … Continue reading
Fighting a fire with your bare hands[11]This conflict is an Oedipal battle for the matchstick-boned.
Now my journey takes me further south[12]According to Alonzo L. Gaskill’s The Lost Language of Symbolism, south “symbolically reminds many commentators of the covenant” and that a word “frequently translated as … Continue reading
I want to hear what the blind men sing[13]Possibly an allusion to the Blind Boys of Alabama, a southern gospel quintet. This may suggest an attempt to develop “ears to hear” and a return to the covenant in an American context, … Continue reading
With their fossils and their gypsy bones[14]This observes the strange, nomadic, wandering origins of the christian tradition, which has been intermingled with numerous pagan, superstitious traditions. “fossils” may be juxtaposed … Continue reading
I’ll stand beside myself so I’m not alone[15]We return to where we began, stranded and disoriented. This also suggests the solipsistic nature of any faith or philosophy that rejects the possibility of dialogic revelation of the Divine Other to … Continue reading
And how can I make new again[16]How can he reconcile the divide between past and present…
What rusts every time it rains?[17]…especially when so many traditions—including our own as Latter-day Saints—show their age and brittle nature every time they are confronted with sadness, tragedy, and the very things they … Continue reading
And the rain it comes and floods our lungs
We’re just orphans in a tidal wave’s wake[18]Mankind has become existentially and theologically orphaned in a world that has become seismically unstable and overwhelmed by the deluge of chaos, alluding to Noah’s flood once more to suggest … Continue reading
If I wake up and see my maker coming
With all of his crimson[19]Here we return to the Book of Revelations (Rev. 6:4) and tie it together with Old Testament (Nahum 2:3) and contemporary imagery of Christ in blood-stained robes (D&C 133:48) to suggest this has … Continue reading and his iron desire[20]See: the iron rod, sword of truth, armor of God.
We’ll drag the streets with the baggage of longing
To be loved or destroyed[21]Referencing the ultimate day of God’s judgement.
From a void[22]The nothingness, or emptiness, or nullified value of mankind and his works is here revealed in the presence of God. See also: Nahum 2:10. to a grain of sand[23]See: 1 Nephi 20:19/Isaiah 48:19, 1 Nephi 20:19/Isaiah 10:22, D&C 76:109, D&C 132:30. in your hand[24]By addressing Christ directly here, “your” suggests he has suddenly come. This may have reference to either the Second Coming, or the Restoration. The emptiness has been miraculously … Continue reading
References
| ↑1 | Here we find Adam, representing the archetypal man, lost and alone in the Garden of Eden, having forgotten everything |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Earth, represented here as a diamond in the rough over which Adam has a stewardship to tend and cultivate, with its celestialized state as “a sea of glass” foreshadowed (see: Revelations 15:2). By drawing this connection between the “great Urim and Thummim” earth will become at this point suggests the revelatory experience life on earth is intended to afford us. Additionally, this allusion introduces a Rekhabite motif by referencing the light-giving precious stones and jewels carried by both Noah and the Jaredites. |
| ↑3 | Lucifer and his angels represented as agents of chaos and woe. |
| ↑4 | Adam and his posterity after leaving the Garden, his posterity having rejected the archetypal father, or the faith, traditions, etc. of their progenitors. |
| ↑5 | The distance between mankind and the Garden has become unbridgeable; the rubicon simultaneously represents the partaking of the forbidden fruit (a bound crossed which “commits a person irrevocably”) and the act of Cain slaying Able, as the origin of this definition is rooted in Caesar’s crossing the Rubicon river as an “act of defiance” that initiated the civil war (brother against brother) which culminated in the rise of a kingdom based on temporal power, symbolically representing all opposition to the Kingdom of God and the oppression of the faithful (see here). |
| ↑6 | The core structure of the natural man, represented here as brittle and intrinsically self-destructive in its terrestrial state. |
| ↑7 | Mankind looks to science for immortality and moral deliverance – as if freezing a matchstick could prevent it from igniting/consuming itself. |
| ↑8 | In connection with the preceding line on matchstick bones, “these burdens” here represent the mounting external burden of the natural man, now externalized to suggest social superstructures, highlighting a futile desire to follow the Rekhabite impulse, as explored elsewhere by Hugh Nibley. |
| ↑9 | The burden is represented in an increasingly externalized form as “creatures,” not men. |
| ↑10 | Here suggesting the creatures had successfully frozen themselves in an attempt to achieve immortality, leaving nothing but an oppressive, fractured tradition and highlighting the futility of the desire to construct immortality for ones self. |
| ↑11 | This conflict is an Oedipal battle for the matchstick-boned. |
| ↑12 | According to Alonzo L. Gaskill’s The Lost Language of Symbolism, south “symbolically reminds many commentators of the covenant” and that a word “frequently translated as ‘south’ means to face east—or in other words to face God.” |
| ↑13 | Possibly an allusion to the Blind Boys of Alabama, a southern gospel quintet. This may suggest an attempt to develop “ears to hear” and a return to the covenant in an American context, with a possible allusion to the lingering effects of the apostasy as mankind is left with the “blind leading the blind.” |
| ↑14 | This observes the strange, nomadic, wandering origins of the christian tradition, which has been intermingled with numerous pagan, superstitious traditions. “fossils” may be juxtaposed with “gypsy bones” to hint at the tension between science and mysticism. |
| ↑15 | We return to where we began, stranded and disoriented. This also suggests the solipsistic nature of any faith or philosophy that rejects the possibility of dialogic revelation of the Divine Other to contemporary man. |
| ↑16 | How can he reconcile the divide between past and present… |
| ↑17 | …especially when so many traditions—including our own as Latter-day Saints—show their age and brittle nature every time they are confronted with sadness, tragedy, and the very things they purport to guard against? |
| ↑18 | Mankind has become existentially and theologically orphaned in a world that has become seismically unstable and overwhelmed by the deluge of chaos, alluding to Noah’s flood once more to suggest this crisis is essentially universal and perennial. |
| ↑19 | Here we return to the Book of Revelations (Rev. 6:4) and tie it together with Old Testament (Nahum 2:3) and contemporary imagery of Christ in blood-stained robes (D&C 133:48) to suggest this has always been the inevitable apocalypse of mortal man. |
| ↑20 | See: the iron rod, sword of truth, armor of God. |
| ↑21 | Referencing the ultimate day of God’s judgement. |
| ↑22 | The nothingness, or emptiness, or nullified value of mankind and his works is here revealed in the presence of God. See also: Nahum 2:10. |
| ↑23 | See: 1 Nephi 20:19/Isaiah 48:19, 1 Nephi 20:19/Isaiah 10:22, D&C 76:109, D&C 132:30. |
| ↑24 | By addressing Christ directly here, “your” suggests he has suddenly come. This may have reference to either the Second Coming, or the Restoration. The emptiness has been miraculously changed into a grain of sand in Christ’s hand, alluding to a restoration of the covenant people in Christ’s hand and that, whether driven by love or self-inflicted desperation, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. |