I am not going to capture love, fit it into a box and ship it off. It is not something that I can neatly define through a Wikipedia search, and jam into a 500 word article. To define love is not my goal. But "Lion's Mane" by Iron & Wine, otherwise known as Sam Beam, captures just a small, beautiful sliver of what an everyday kind of love looks like. The love Beam describes is a universal kind of love. It has no borders, no boundaries; it is a little sort of love peppered throughout our day to day endeavors.
His song starts off as follows--"Run like a race for family when you hear like you're alone. The rusted gears of morning, to faceless busy phones. We gladly run in circles, but the shape we meant to make is gone." Beam sets the stage here for daily life. We go about our days, as society deems it so. Our gears are rusted from the monotony, our work and our calls becoming "faceless" in the repetition. But we wish for more, different patterns of living perhaps, and yet the mundane causes us to have "circular living," one that never deviates from its endless shape or pathway.
"Love is a tired symphony you hum when you're awake. Love is a crying baby Mama warned you not to shake. Love is the best sensation hiding in the lion's mane." And throughout this repetition, we have one small song that keeps us going. Though it too has repetition, it is a symphony that creates a beautiful backdrop to our lives. Love, however, reprimands. Love is protective of those that are weak, such as a mother and her newborn child. Love, to Beam, is the best emotion, as it leaves the strongest impression.
"So I'll clear the road, the gravel and the thorn bush in your path that burns a scented oil that I'll drip into your bath. The water's there to warm you and the earth is warmer when you laugh." Love is sacrificial. Perhaps these thorns are physical, or perhaps they are metaphorical. Regardless, true love lays itself down for others to walk forward. Love eases the pain and the hurt. Even the smallest of gestures, such as drawing a bath for someone, are the little details that love brings about. And when we lay ourselves down, when we look out for the ones we love, we are greeted with joy. These small ways in which we are able to ease one's suffering truly help to spark a change to society as a whole. The whole world becomes just a little warmer when abundant with such joy.
"Love is a scene I render when you catch me wide awake. Love's a dream you enter though I shake and shake and shake you. Love is the best endeavor waiting in the lion's mane."Perhaps what keeps us up at night is the prospect of love, perhaps that's what we all want in the end. And though we can often be hurt by those who love us, those who shake us, I'd like to argue that it is a basic human desire to simply be loved. Love is something we push for, though we know of the risks of being shaken or pained.
But, what is this "lion's mane" that Beam ties into the song? Why is love equated to an animal of terror? I too had a bit of trouble deciphering this hidden meaning. "Lion's mane is an obvious representation of where love waits for all of us. A lion's mane is something you can only get to if you have the courage to set your mind aside from what bad things may come out of it and have faith that love will outrule anything else." Love is something that may seem hidden at times, but it awaits us nonetheless. Maybe love is vulnerability, entering in though fear and doubt plague you. And thus love is courageous, deviating from our old habits to go out and show this sacrificial affection to someone. Because in the end, to love and to be loved is all that we've ever wanted.
I deeply encourage you to listen to this song, let it speak to you, and discover the ways in which you can weave love into all that you do.
