Emily Maguire and Borderlines

Earlier this year whilst driving home from work I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 presented by Cherylee Houston that included an interview with Emily Maguire. You can listen to it here:

I found the interview itself really interesting and was captivated by Emily's music.

Sally and I went along to a concert of Emily's at the Slaughtered Lamb, a pub in London. It was great.

Recently I've been challenged by my own attitude towards the concepts of LGBT (maybe with a Q and an I) and TRANS (maybe with a *) and myself ... as illustrated a bit by this post that I made.

Then back in September I mentioned a questionnaire that was part of a study that is “interested in what might encourage LGBTQIA people to help groups under the umbrella that they are not necessarily a part of.”

A short while after writing that I first listened to an (old) song by Emily Maguire. The title is The Borderline. It's here:

And the words are here.

The Borderline
[E.Maguire]

Where is the borderline
The boundary between your tribe and mine
Are we the rain, the river, the cloud and the sea
If we are like water then which drop is me

And what is time – the fast blink of an eye
A circle so vast that we think it’s a line
And what is space – the air, the silence we breathe
A place of our own and the ghosts we don’t see Is it the boundary, the borderline
Between you and I, your mind and mine

Is fire the spark, the fuel, the air or the heat
The smoke in your eyes or the ash at your feet
Are trees the root, the branch, the wood or the leaves
The forest we burn or the broom that we keep
Beneath the stairs, the stars, the space in a jar The air outside is that where you are
Is that the borderline, the boundary
Between you and I, between your tribe and mine

But isn’t fear the dark shadow of hope
The things that we want and the things that we don’t
And so we cling and close the eyes that look in,
The soul we don’t see under the skin
Cos that’s a boundary, the borderline
Between you and I, between your tribe and mine

But we both were born and both will die
And in between will doubt and dream
Of a better life than life before
A meaning or a reason for
This feeling of being different, defined
When we are only dreaming of boundaries and borderlines
I hope we wake up

Cos what is love – a word, the feeling of you
Something we dream or the things that we do
And who am I – these thoughts, this feeling, my views
A fragile form or a dreamer like you
Are we so different, defined
Where is the borderline?

When we are like water, like trees
We have a name, an illusion of identity
Of boundaries, of borderlines
But my dreams are yours and your fears are mine
I hope we wake up from this dream of being different, defined
When we are only space and time

I love the music and the lyrics. The emphasis on things we have in common. The way that it quietly discredits the kind of tribalism that can lead to conflict.

It challenges me.

In December Sally and I are aiming to be in Bristol for one of the events of Emily's "Meditation Mind" Poetry & Song tour which we're looking forwards to a lot. I'm especially looking forwards to hearing The Borderline live.