Gather Me In

i was born a wailing baby

i was helpless just like you

but i've found ways to cope with hunger

and ways to let the light come shining through

i would drape myself in pearls and silver

i would feign and i would fawn

or i would seek the rudest shelter

and bask in the absolution of the dawn

oh oh gather me in

i am your sister

i am your kin

oh won't you please gather me in

surely you must know this longing

surely you have suffered loss

or known the sting of fruitless endeavour

or stood in fear of a river you must cross

we are on the brink of knowing each other

what nameless forces hold us back

do you believe i would not surrender

that i cannot fight the impulse to attack?

someday the world will sink her teeth into me

and i the sleeper will awake

and what new marvels will she show me

oh but what old comforts will she take?

I don't always get to play concerts and sing to folks and stay up past my bedtime. Sometimes my body has to go to meetings in office buildings to pay for the mortgage and kids' sneakers and teabags. This song's roots are deeply embedded in those meetings. It grew out of scribbles I made in my notebook while I sat in a conference room staring straight ahead, trying to seem competent. Trying to look like I was writing something sensible like "must undertake strategy to ensure next quarter's results" instead of "aaaaah my burning sooooouuuuul" and drawings of mice. Every meeting caused me to churn with low-grade panic, that somebody would figure out that I was in fact a fraud, or that nobody would figure it out and so nobody would ever really see me. That is really the bedrock of this song and its lyrics - the desire to be seen, to be heard, to have somebody look at you and catch a glimmer of themselves therein.