Part 2 — Re-membering

To The Wild

We are nature, but the wilds are hard. We go to them to feel out beyond the forgetting of who we are and where we came from, to feel through the insanity and the chaos and the noise of people peopling and the pounding energy of systems out of control. The quickening preciousness of these short lives of ours, mere sparkles on the water, flashes in the dark, nutrients cycling, spirits evolving. I'm just an animal, a body borne in time.

Read the Lyrics

Singing Key

LEFT RIGHT ALL

Take me out to the wild for a while.
It reminds me I'm just passing through, a body borne in time.
It reminds me, I'm… just an animal….
And… I'm only here for a short while

Standing waste deep in the water, the Great Lake winds they speak to me
Coded in the breeze; hints of how things used to be
A shoal of fish glide round my feet and a tern hunt glides over me
Out there in the distance, I hear a wolf howl - There's a blood red moon tonight

And I think about my life and all the times I panic and I try to make it right,
living in the city
I think about the choice we made to leave all this behind us,
but it's hard to live out here

Take me out to the wild for a while.
It reminds me I'm just passing through, a body borne in time.
It reminds me, I'm… just an animal….
And… I'm only here for a short while

And if the weather turns and all my gear is broken
I'll face the night like the others on the mountain
and with no shelter, I'll be helpless, with no tooth, nor fur, nor claw…

Sunrise comes and I awake and I cast my line into the lake
Time will bring a feast to me of flesh and blood and bone
Behind me, there's this mystery - a forest as far as I can see
Out there in the gloaming, creatures prowling in the night, hungry for the feast in me

And I think about my life and all the times I worried and I felt sick in my mind,
living in the city, oh I think about the choice we made to leave all this behind us -
it's hard to live out here

Take me out to the wild for a while;
it reminds me I'm just passing through, a body borne in time.
Take me to the wild for a while; it reminds me, I'm just an animal….
    I'm only here for a short while
        I'm only here for a short while
            I'm only here for a short while
                I'm only here for a short while
                    I'm only here for a short while
                        I'm only here for a short while
                            I'm only here for a short while

Sit With This

Do you romanticise "the wild"? Have you been there?
How long would you survive without materials derived from petroleum?
Where can you find the wild near your home?
What can you do to safely bring more of it in — sleepouts, woods, vision quests?
What practices help you touch the wild without endangering yourself?

The Deeper Dive

I spent 5 days on a wilderness expedition in canoes in Canada. A short trip, but with 500 km of forest behind us, I felt the wild like I never had before. At first, this song sprang from the romantic notion of it and things I saw and felt awe for, but as the days ticked on and the supplies waned and the midgies turned into a tent-bound war machine, the sheer challenge of living wild turned the song towards more pragmatic waters. We left the wild behind for safety. We can't easily go back.