The
Rational Argumentator
The Watcher on the Shore
The Watcher on the Shore: Listen and Download.
This latest composition by Rodney Rawlings combines a rhythmic, and at times dynamic, melody with intriguing multi-instrumental accompaniment.
This instrumental evokes the ocean in its opposite moods of peacefulness and of fury, from the standpoint of a solitary watcher unfazed by its violence, and for whom it partially speaks. A somewhat extended form of this melody was used for the author’s piano piece, “Reconstruction on Ground Zero.” (Listen.) “The Watcher on the Shore” is in fact the original; it served as the title theme for a musical play written by the composer.
In both the song and the play, the figure of the Watcher signifies anyone who deals with the world first-hand intellectually. Such a person is the de facto guardian physically of all who may choose to do otherwise. The lyrics (mainly represented here by the piano) are as follows:
THE WATCHER ON THE SHORE
Down where the waves crash upon the rocky ledge,
You see the solitary man who watches on the shore.
It may be peaceful or it may be restless seas;
He will be standing even as the daylight flees
All the gathered storm clouds,
He’s
Where the waves fall, and others fear to
Linger—yes, THE WATCHER ON THE SHORE of life
Where breakers roar!
Don’t deny him, though you may be quite at ease.
Only let him stand, and THE WATCHER ON THE SHORE will preserve you
Just as he kept you before.
We live all our lives, while THE WATCHER ON THE SHORE stands alone there—
May he be lonely no more.
***
(C) 2009, Rodney Rawlings.
Click here to return to TRA's Issue CLXXXVII Index.
Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here.Read Mr. Stolyarov's comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here.