5/28: Between the Sun and Moon

In which I ruminate on bonfires for a few minutes

There is a lake between sun and moon
Not too many know about
In the silence between whisper and shout
The space between wonder and doubt

“Between the Sun and Moon” was co-written by Pye Dubois, in that Neil based it off a poem Dubois wrote. Dubois has co-writing credits on two other Rush songs: “Force Ten” and “Tom Sawyer.” And while I don’t think this song is nearly as good as either of those two, I do love some of the lyrical imagery in it, particularly the line, “Those bonfire lights in the mirror of sky; the space between wonder and why.”

I do love a good bonfire, don’t you? This past weekend was Lag B’omer, which is celebrated in Israel by building bonfires on the shores of the Red Sea; as an Israeli friend of mine said, “You wake up on Lag B’omer and the whole world smells like wood smoke.”

We do the same thing in New Orleans on Christmas Day. As night falls, bonfires on the lakeshore flicker in the gloom like fireflies.

The best thing about bonfires, imo, is that they’re their own entertainment. Before a good crackling fire you can let thought and feeling melt away and simply exist, letting your primordial animal cells appreciate the light and heat just for what it is.

I kind of feel the same about this song. It crackles, it dances. But it doesn’t really stick in my brain in a conscious way. Just exists. As soon as it’s over, it’s gone. But while it’s there, it’s a very pleasant four minutes, isn’t it?