Silence

Tags

Emotions, Heart, Inspiration, Israel, music, Music Video, Perception, Silence, Song, Spirit

Hello all. It’s been a month since I graced this stage – a fact I’m not particularly proud of! Today I’m sharing a new video with you which I recorded a couple of weeks back. The song I perform is called “Silence” and I wrote it about fifteen years ago, when I still lived in the Emerald Isle.

I received a surprising message recently from a young woman who heard me play this song in 2001, when I was a Kibbutz volunteer in Israel. She had been looking for me for many years, with the hope of hearing the song again. This inspired me to record it, and I’m very glad I did. I have so many old songs I never perform, and knowing this song made such an impression, I’m now going to dust those oldies off, and bring them back to life.

I always enjoy hearing people’s interpretations of my songs. This means I don’t usually go into a detailed explanation of what they are about, for fear of ruining what a song means to an individual. But here I will say at least this: for me, this song speaks about perception, and those emotions we experience in the silence of our own hearts.

I hope you enjoy.

Lyrics:

 

Silence may wound the fearful
Words say more than they should
Your thoughts may not be evil
And yet in deed they would make it

 

Too late for you to go
Too late for you to show
Your life’s in shreds
Too late for you to cry
Too late to say goodbye
Your mind is dead

 

Heartbreak may wound the lonely
Love can destroy the strong
Reasons may not be evil
You’ll still be told you’re wrong
And it will be

 

Too late for you to go
Too late for you to show
Your life’s in shreds
Too late for you to cry
Too late to say goodbye
Your mind is dead

 

And why should it be that you suffer
At the hands of your lover
Or your Father, or your Mother
Or closest friend
And why should you cry every evening
Not know why you are grieving
For a life you’ve never had
Has come to an end
And it will be

 

Too late for you to go
Too late for you to show
Your life’s in shreds
Too late for you to cry
Too late to say goodbye
Your mind is dead

 

© Emily Coates 2013

 

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Story

Tags

Belief, Catharsis, Character, Creation, Creative, Director, Good, Healing, Heart, Liberation, Loss, Pain, Perception, Plot, Renewed, Sadness, Scenes, Screen, Smile, Story

I have been very happy recently to share some poetry, from a large collection I wrote a number of years ago. I have held these works behind closed doors for a long time – not looking them over, or thinking that I would ever share them, but for reasons unknown to me, I am inspired to post them here. As the saying goes, the time is NOW. Here, I nurture the feelings of liberation and catharsis.

This particular poem is called “Story”. When I read these words as the person I am today, I was stirred within, and I found myself enveloped in a world bigger than I could digest with my thinking mind. It is said that the heart is the most powerful organ in the human body. Of course this is open to debate, but today I am inclined to agree.

 

This is what I want to write:

You think I create a story

And you fail to see the plot

No that is wrong

You fail to agree with the plot

You see it with different eyes

That I believe is fair to say

 

But of course your eyes

Have not adjusted to the screen

Upon which I present my scenes

There is so much you do not see

Or know, or live, or understand

The biggest of these is

There is so much you do not believe

And even more that you do

I never reached you there

Though I wish I had

I know there is much you can teach me

And I do not belittle you in all of this

For you are wonderful to me

 

There is a story you have written for yourself

And this story fits you well

It surely suits you and makes you happy

But it is not whole

Some of the facts elude you

Or you willingly elude them

So the story is only half-right, half-complete

Developed over years of collating words and actions

Take one or two

Of these and transform them into

A changed perspective

A character development

Progression if you will

And find belief in something

You told me you did not believe in

And then maybe with time you will find another story

With time

(This is truly my wish for you)

 

Or maybe you will

Stick to your plot

(It is after all a good story)

And I will stick to mine

And we can wave at each other

From each director’s chair

You will look at me as you wave

And think only good

And I will smile for you

 

I must go and work now

On character development

As good as my creative purpose is served here

I cannot wait until the time comes

When I do not have anymore to write for you

When I am empty of pain

And sadness

And no longer feel hurt

Or feel the loss I can only reach

Through these words

When I read them over

I will not give a role to martyrdom

And I will keep redefining my plot

Until the well runs dry

Until I am renewed

Until my wounds have healed

And our story ends

 

Courage

Tags

Artistic Expression, Courage, Denial, Emotions, Hypocrisy, Ignorance, Perception, Poem, spirituality, Transparency

Below is a poem I wrote many years ago, as part of a collection. Recently I decided to share it here.

One thing I love about art is its ability to capture the emotion of a moment, whatever that may be. I feel that it’s important as an artist for me to be completely honest and open with my emotions in whatever form they take, and when I wrote this poem the words flowed from my mind both rapidly and freely, allowing a great cathartic release.

I also feel it important not to temper one’s artistic expression, even if the subject matter is difficult, or the emotions expressed tumultuous. I believe that every possible emotional expression exists within the individual. I also believe that it is not only healthy, but of great benefit to embrace the risk of transparency, by fully freeing these expressions when they require a voice. This can help to break the taboo surrounding those emotions we would rather not have, or admit to.

Lastly, my work demonstrates to me those ways in which my perceptions have now changed; it is a reference point for all that I have been, all that I am, and of course, all that I can ever be.

Do you think you could ever love a woman

As much as you love your God

Forgive my audacity

I have never been one for conformity

And the question it just presents itself to me

And I must entertain it

It cannot go ignored

I cannot pretend it isn’t there

Tell me something my dear friend

Do you think my intrusion unfair?

And if this be the case

Do you think that I enjoy

Just lying in my bed

And my brain constantly pulling apart

Everything we said

The curse of an analytical mind

Warped I think you once said

Are you too of this kind?

No, I believe you have the ability

To shut out all you do not wish to see

After all isn’t this the mode of conduct

You employed when discarding me

Let us reflect the saying

Knowing only through experience

Or turning a blind eye

Taking a safety curtain, surrounding yourself

With this invisible cloak

Shunning the question why

If you do not see what is happening to another

And it is not happening to you

You can say you had no idea

And this fact it will be true

Does that not make you the same then

As all the great men you deplore

Or you think yourself some kind of saint

And pray for something more

You need things to be calmer

Where’s your courage to face your core

To take things out, examine what you have done

Or I have pushed you to your limits

Oh little one

You abhor hate

And yet you propel it

How can a man be so ignorant

Amidst his obvious intellect?

You have no idea in this world

How it is to drive another insane

But let me tell you something darling friend

It starts when you dish out pain

Pain stored for eons inside your very soul

Pain that has been inflicted upon you

And you think you can control

But control it you do not

It waits behind your walls of steel

And it explodes in misdirection

When your heart begins to feel

Every emotion that once pained you

And you locked away so tight

The ones that come to haunt you

When you toss and turn at night

And you are thankful for the daylight

When you can resume the very form

You have spent many years perfecting

Until it has become the norm

But buried deep emotion

You forgot it lost from sight

And when it swells and overwhelms you

You cannot tell wrong from right

You find yourself in action

That betrays your moral code

You just cannot help the feelings

That your true self still unfolds

So quickly employ your friend suppression

On everything it is you feel

You tell yourself moments of weakness

Contributed to false ideals

You turn to reliable logic

Another good friend in the past

You bring all things back together

Under your heavy laden cast

And with normality restored

And tranquility regained

You bury once again these feelings

That have stemmed from deeper pain

It is all that you can handle

The truth about oneself is hard to face

And you go back to your routine

Another funeral of disgrace

And everything that we have been through

Not really knowing each other at all

Has given me another scar

And broke my heart and built more walls

It is this my darling friend

That opens hatred’s door

The very hatred you condemn

The hatred you ignore

And so I take you back to the question posed

At the start of this sad rhyme

And now I ask you yet another

Do you not think courage should have its time?