Oroborus

Serpent of light, movement of the soul
Crawling stately along the spine
Mighty Phoenix, from the ashes arises
Firebird cycle, life, regenerate the cell

Life burns fierce, reduced to ashes
Resurrection from the flame, ageless process
Quest for Absolution, out of bounds introspect
Self-consuming womb, ever-present, meet no end

It seems like I always knew this
Since I'm a child I can feel it
My inner light everlasting
Revolving within a circle

Extended wings I'm flying
Over the valleys and planes
The curve of space I'm leaving
Death is just an illusion

Oroborus symbol of eternal life
Dig a tunnel through light, through ignorant walls
I'm counting the days but I'm dying
Grow up with impatience I'm falling down

On the peaks of radiant mountains
This truth is growing before before me
My attention fixed on this silence
Rediscover life while I'm breathing

Designing the shape of material
Frozen icon distant reminder
Mankind has forgotten the gateways
By the mouth of the serpent regenerate

- Gojira (2008)

Gojira hails from France and has left a big footprint on the heavy metal scene here in the United States. Their raw, heavy sound found quickly found favor among American audiences following the release of the Prosthetic Records debut From Mars to Sirius in 2006. Their crushingly heavy sound, thoughtful lyrics, and high level of musicianship stuck a thumb in the eye of a scene that was starting to suffer from a bad case of sameness. I had the good fortune of interviewing vocalist Joe Duplantier before their show in support of In Flames in Houston last year. This song is taken from their most recent album The Way of all Flesh.

The oroborus is a symbol of a serpent eating its own tail. The most common interpretation of this symbol is that of the cycle of destruction and re-creation. To be more specific, once something ends, the cycle begins anew. The symbol itself is ancient and powerful.

This past weekend I was treated to the story of a little girl in a hospital room. She had ribbons in her hair and didn't speak much. The story scared the hell out of me for some reason. I was told later by more than one medical professional that the little girl often appears in hospital rooms when a patient is close to death.

The person who told the story is close to 93 years old and has really been wanting to die for the past 6 years. It's in the past 2 months that dementia has started to settle in on her mind, which doesn't help after she was weakened physically by a mild heart attack. Life is burning fierce for her and is reducing quickly to ashes in a short amount of time.

As I reflected on my human experience over the weekend I pondered the circle of life. Her life is ending, probably very soon, while mine is nearing the middle of the cycle. Even though we never spent that much time together, I can feel her influences in me. She will live on through me... she is just simply leaving this plane of existence to go forth to another to be with her husband who she misses so much. Those influcnces will be passed on to the next generation, where they may not know it is her hand guiding, but it will be felt. She has, in her lucid moments, achieved an understanding for herself what it means when she dies. Not everyone will be so lucky.

Anyway, if you were looking for a dissection of the song, I can't provide it here, I can only tell that this is a reflection of my current state of mind. Feel free to dissect it your will.