There is a song that has haunted me for nearly 20 years. It's a much older song . . . an old Appalachian folk song, to be exact. But it's the way in which the group The Story sang it that makes it so ethereal and yet so real.
The song is titled "In the Gloaming" - gloaming being an Old English, and hence Appalachian, word for evening. It's about unrequited love, broken hearts, and, yes, suicide.
While gloaming simply means the twilight hours, in my mind it has always been associated with a misty evening - rife with the wispy exhalation of plants after a long hot day. Since my early childhood in the country, those wisps of mist have always seemed to me to be like souls, floating once more on the earth. Endlessly swirling, lost. A perfect way to represent this song.
In case you are interested, the lyrics:
In the gloaming, oh my darling,
when the lights are soft and low,
and the quiet shadows falling
softly come and softly go.
when the lights are soft and low,
and the quiet shadows falling
softly come and softly go.
When the trees are sobbing faintly
with a gentle unknown woe,
will you think of me and love me
as you did once long ago?
In the gloaming, oh my darling,
think not bitterly of me,
though I passed away in silence
left you lonely, set you free.
think not bitterly of me,
though I passed away in silence
left you lonely, set you free.
For my heart was tossed with longing ~
what was once could never be.
It was best to leave you thus, dear -
best for you and best for me.
what was once could never be.
It was best to leave you thus, dear -
best for you and best for me.
In the gloaming, oh my darling,
when the lights are soft and low.
Will you think of me and love me
as you did once long ago?
The Story, performing it live:
This song also makes me think of a true old Lover's Leap, like this one - down in Kentucky at The Red River Gorge. The gray edge of rock is the edge of the cliff. It's a long way down.
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