Let's Stay Alive
by Alex Harford
Wired for light
ablaze in the night
We sleep face to face on high places
When leaves are gone
Angel, come
Open your eyes a million times more
Show me love in white winds
for music takes me when you sing.
A scavenger's heart is strange
but I am under no disguise
The walls are starting to crack
In a new disaster, you are chains
But my Heart is strange
Daylight won't be long
The fire is waiting.
About this
I wrote "Let's Stay Alive" after looking at the song titles of albums from Secret Machines and School of Seven Bells, who are both linked by Benjamin Curtis. I picked titles I thought would fit a narrative and formed them into a poem, and I've found it interesting how some readers have interpreted the poem in a different way to what I intended.
I guessed I'd used about 10 song titles in the final poem, but when I checked, I'd used 16 (some adapted and from 80+ songs across the albums).
The poem was originally written in September 2020. I revisited it in April 2021 and cut the following single line stanzas (even more song titles) from the end, which I think make a nice standalone short poem:
I never thought to ask if dreaming is alright
I want to know if it's still possible
Dreaming of dreaming.
P.S. If you didn't guess, I love both bands. A favourite song by each:
Everything Starts by Secret Machines
I L U by School of Seven Bells
Contact:
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(AT)AlexHarford.uk