Zephyr[1]Reference to Zephuros, a minor Greek deity who in ancient mythology was the god of the west wind, the most gentle and favorable of winds. He is also known for his unrequited love for … Continue reading in the sky at night, I wonder
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun?[2]Hers is an ancient complaint: “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. … Continue reading
She’s got herself a universe[3]We all will, in the distant eternities, when we at last attain our exaltation and create worlds of our own.
And I do mean all of us, men and women alike., gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone[4]It’s worth remembering that, when this song first topped the charts in 1998, there was a wide-spread sense of impending apocalypse permeating pop-culture. Even amidst the affluence of the largest … Continue reading
And I feel like I just got home[5]If, per Hebrews 11:13, we are “Strangers and pilgrims” upon gone Earth, then logically, like Christ, our kingdom is not of this world. That means, anytime we have felt the influence of heaven in … Continue reading
And I feel[6]“The Gospel is a feeling,” President Dyer reminds us, in an unjustly-maligned-nowadays 1960 talk. At the end of the day, we are all converted to the Gospel not by cold, logical chains-of-facts, … Continue reading
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
Faster than the speeding light[7]“If you could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye…”, she’s flying
Trying to remember where it all began[8]To quote William Wordsworth (as cited by our own Sunday School manuals):
“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, … Continue reading
She’s got herself a little piece of Heaven[9]Henry B. Eyering once taught in Conference that anytime we have felt the Holy Spirit, we have felt the Atonement working in our lives. As reads D&C 84:46, “the Spirit giveth light to every man … Continue reading
Waiting for the time when Earth shall be as one[10]The word Atonement, as oft taught in Sunday School, is a portmanteau of “At-One-ment,” to be At-One, reconciled. The redemption of the Earth will entail the literal reconciliation of all peoples … Continue reading
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
Quicker than a ray of light
Quicker than a ray of light
Quicker than a ray of light[11]“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” -John 1:5; no matter how complete the darkness gets—and it regularly gets dark indeed—even a single ray of light is … Continue reading
Zephyr in the sky at night, I wonder[12]Third verse, same as the first.
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun?
She’s got herself a universe, gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone[13]“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33
And I feel[14]“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.“ -John 14:27
Quicker than a ray of light, then gone for
Someone else will be there[15]“and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” -Matt. 28:20
Through the endless years[16]“…all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.” -Alma 40:8
She’s got herself a universe
She’s got herself a universe
She’s got herself a universe
And I feel
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
Quicker than a ray of light
She’s flying[17]“…they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31
Quicker than a ray of light
I’m flying[18]“…I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.” -Moroni 10:34
References
| ↑1 | Reference to Zephuros, a minor Greek deity who in ancient mythology was the god of the west wind, the most gentle and favorable of winds. He is also known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus; that is, there is an undercurrent of melancholy and mourning to this otherwise-pleasant old story—just as there is to the best old Pop songs—and to this Pop song in particular. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Hers is an ancient complaint: “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose” (Ecclesiastes 1:3-5); does anyone really care that we mourn? Does the sun note our tears? It’s a sincere question. |
| ↑3 | We all will, in the distant eternities, when we at last attain our exaltation and create worlds of our own.
And I do mean all of us, men and women alike. |
| ↑4 | It’s worth remembering that, when this song first topped the charts in 1998, there was a wide-spread sense of impending apocalypse permeating pop-culture. Even amidst the affluence of the largest peacetime economy since WWII and the end of the Cold War, there was just this feeling in the air, that the other shoe was going to drop soon. We didn’t yet know it would be 9/11 (at the time, we thought it might be Y2K), but correctly intuited that something would happen soon.
Yet as Neal A. Maxwell also once said in his very first Conference talk as an Apostle, we know that Armageddon is coming, but so is Adam-ondi-Ahman! If we intuit the looming cataclysm, we also intuit the new Heaven and Earth that follows it. It is an intuition that this song shares. |
| ↑5 | If, per Hebrews 11:13, we are “Strangers and pilgrims” upon gone Earth, then logically, like Christ, our kingdom is not of this world. That means, anytime we have felt the influence of heaven in our lives, we have felt at home–because we originally come from elsewhere.
This is a doctrine—that of premortal existence—that is unique to the LDS faith; nevertheless, as any missionary can attest, it is a doctrine that everyone everywhere intuits to be true, without ever having needed to be taught it. We all feel that our true home is elsewhere. |
| ↑6 | “The Gospel is a feeling,” President Dyer reminds us, in an unjustly-maligned-nowadays 1960 talk. At the end of the day, we are all converted to the Gospel not by cold, logical chains-of-facts, but by a feeling—but then, that’s how we are all persuaded of anything. Our eyes sense light; our ears sense sound; and our souls sense the divine. It’s the only way we find peace in this life, and assurances in the life to come. |
| ↑7 | “If you could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye…” |
| ↑8 | To quote William Wordsworth (as cited by our own Sunday School manuals):
“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; That is, we’ve all been trying to remember where it all began… |
| ↑9 | Henry B. Eyering once taught in Conference that anytime we have felt the Holy Spirit, we have felt the Atonement working in our lives. As reads D&C 84:46, “the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world”–and woman. That same Spirit is when we also all feel “a little piece of Heaven”… |
| ↑10 | The word Atonement, as oft taught in Sunday School, is a portmanteau of “At-One-ment,” to be At-One, reconciled. The redemption of the Earth will entail the literal reconciliation of all peoples with each other, and of each other with the Almighty. It is what we, as Latter-day Saints, are supposed to be anxiously awaiting beyond the Last Day—what, indeed, we are supposed to be preparing for: “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” reads D&C 38:27. And one in that way? “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2:44-45); “And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift” (4 Nephi 1:3); “That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it” (Isaiah 14:32). This is the Law of Consecration and the United Order; it is also a doctrine that most people are taught, but nevertheless intuit is the only true order of Heaven. |
| ↑11 | “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” -John 1:5; no matter how complete the darkness gets—and it regularly gets dark indeed—even a single ray of light is still stronger. |
| ↑12 | Third verse, same as the first. |
| ↑13 | “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33 |
| ↑14 | “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.“ -John 14:27 |
| ↑15 | “and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” -Matt. 28:20 |
| ↑16 | “…all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.” -Alma 40:8 |
| ↑17 | “…they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31 |
| ↑18 | “…I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.” -Moroni 10:34 |