In direct contrast to Part 4, Part 5 describes the ways in which Judas has begun to allow chaos and chance to play their parts in his life, principally focusing on the development of his relationship with a new love, Elena. Their relationship begins and develops from a base in respect for each partner individually and freely, and the two stay together because they each allow the other to be fully whole. Their love results in her unexpected pregnancy, which Judas welcomes as the fullest realization of meaning in his life.
*Each section (strings, horns, etc.) was given music to use as a basis for improvising, but they were given minimal directions and were not allowed to hear the other instruments. I wanted to allow whatever happened to happen, and I improvised the melody for the lyrics after the the instruments had all been recorded.
lyrics
Part 5 --- The Tumbling of Leaves
The air felt lighter.
The wind blew first north,
But the next moment west,
Or anywhere at all.
A leaf sat on its stem.
It rolled a foot, a mile,
From where it landed…
An adventure whimsical,
And almost noiseless.
That is where I met Elena.
There were no lines that pointed to her,
Nor did she draw any arrows
To show where to go,
But she stayed with me,
Present, curious to know
Which direction the leaf turned next,
And invited me to see the wonder in what she saw.
To share my own.
Together we walked as two,
Only in harmony because we chose so.
Only because we accepted, unapologetically,
The pitch with which we each resonated.
And forgave our dissonances,
Whatever interval divided us.
Our time together produced a new vibration,
An unexpected reverberation,
The realest sense of completion
Ever given back to me
From the coldness outside.
Brought about by the tumbling of leaves at my feet.
I could see no function,
But I understood my role.
With these two newest, freest, realest pieces of my life,
I found meaning outside machines.
I began to accept what I couldn’t control.
credits
from Exile of the Moon,
released December 16, 2018
Composed by Shawn Knabel
Exile of the Moon is a project and a world imagined by Shawn Knabel as a platform for introspective storytelling. The stories revolve around the conflicts between a fictional planet and its moon.
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