Annotation of: Junip - Line of Fire
[Gideon Dore - Divine Comedy]
What would you do
If it all came back to you
Each crest of each wave
Bright as lightning
What would you say
If you had to leave today
Leave everything behind
Even though for once you're shining
Standing on higher ground
But when you hear the sounds
You realize it's just a whim
And you notice it matters
Who and what you let under your skin
If put to the test
Would you step back from the line of fire
Hold everything back
All emotions and desires
Convince yourself to be someone else
And hold back from the world
Your lack of confidence
What you choose to believe in
Dictates your rise or fall
With no one else around you
No one to understand you
No one to hear your calls
Look through all your dark corners
When you're backed up against the wall
Step back from the line of fire
What would you do
If it all came back to you
Each crest of each wave
Bright as lightning
I'd do the same as you
Would do the same as you
Step back from the line of fire
The song portrays what lies before, and what is encountered within an epiphany, or the utmost pellucid moment of clarity.
What would you do
If it all came back to you
Each crest of each wave
Bright as lightning
The first verse of the first canto asks the question: what would you do? Note that the epiphany could also be thought of as following a near death experience. It is not often that we encounter such clarity, and are so unused to it that our past (âeach crest of each waveâ) may seem frightening; (âbright as lightningâ) not something you want to bask in.
What would you say
If you had to leave today
Leave everything behind
An epiphany may be thought of as a watershed mark, a point of no return in a certain; eternal sense. What has been seen within it, cannot be unseen: and what youâve seen is what has led you up to it; your past.What choice would you make and dare to speak aloud when forced to choose how to face the future, in light of the past?
Even though for once you're shining
A difficult choice; this seeing and facing of the past in choosing the future â note the dialectic movement in the reversal of what is faced âMore so if your deeds in the past (the waves' crests) seemed so secure, so salubriously enticing.
Standing on higher ground
The lightning bright epiphany is likened to standing on higher ground.The image of Bilbo in Mirkwood climbing a tree and looking out over the canopy comes to mind.
But when you hear the sounds
You realize it's just a whim
Though the vision of the future is glorious, the sounds of deeds in the past â which constitute your current person â are experienced to be but a momentary whim.
And you notice it matters
Who and what you let under your skin
And for the first time a platitude is felt and finally seen to be oh so true.
The true danger of an epiphany is revealed: what cannot be unseen is the test, the test of all you are â all you have been; and what is tested is your readiness for the future.
Would you step back from the line of fire
Hold everything back
All emotions and desires
What is tested is your intent behind your emotions and desires, which lead to your deeds and finally to your person.Imagine they lead to a towering fire. A line of fire so immense, so bleak with heat and with nothing around it but what has led you up to it; that you may wish to return to the desert.Would you choose to step into the fire and let it consume all that would taint it?
Convince yourself to be someone else
And hold back from the world
Your lack of confidence
What you choose to believe in
Dictates your rise or fall
Yes. We must choose to step into the fire, and become another person: our truer selves.Which may perhaps one day dictate for ourselves our rise and fall on the crests of the waves which are our deeds, and therefore our person, in wait of the future
With no one else around you
No one to understand you
No one to hear your calls
We take nothing into the epiphany but ourselves.
Look through all your dark corners
When you're backed up against the wall
Look through all your dark corners when you make the choice: the past or the future. Have you light enough to bear the fire?
Step back from the line of fire
What would you do
If it all came back to you
Each crest of each wave
Bright as lightning
I'd do the same as you
Would do the same as you
Step back from the line of fire
The question of the first verse of the first canto is answered: Iâd do the same as you. I am not ready; but I try to see as clearly as I can.