The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Life On Earth"

In honor of National Poetry Month, each week I am presenting song lyrics that double as exquisite poetry and this week's song doesn't get larger or more important. "Life On Earth" by Snow Patrol was written by lead singer Gary Lightbody and covers, in a short poem, the ideas of memory, the past, growing and transcending one's understanding of one's place, the future, and a sense of being and belonging contrasted with a sense of being encompassed by the vastness of life and the universe. All in a few breathtaking, heartbreaking stanzas.

Life On Earth
by Gary Lightbody

The first snow
The first winter of my life
I was told it was the height of me
The first dance
Well, the first one that counted
Felt like my blood was built my from crackling light

Oh this ancient wildness
That we don't understand
The first sound of a heartbeat
To riots roaring on

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

The first light
The first light on the silent shore
Just the ships set anchor, me and you
The way home
This is always the way home
So you can rip that map to shreds, my dear

But all we ever wanted
See miles and miles from here
In the first days in a strange new land
We could be sailors

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

https://snowpatrol.com/