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On not trying to fix you

Back in July, I posted a YouTube link to a beautiful song, Fix You, by Coldplay.

It is easy in the emotion of the music to give assent to what is expressed in the chorus of the song:

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try
To fix you

But of course it's never as easy as that - there are no quick fixes for those in the kind of emotional distress that is portrayed in the song. So here is my creative response to those words ...

Not trying to fix you


I have no lights to guide you home,
Instantly incandescent and full of hope.
The little flame that burns in my heart
Will perhaps suffice
To see you, stumbling and hesitant,
Around the next corner;
Accompany you on the next twist
In your path to light or darkness.

For half an hour or maybe more
I'll be alongside you
An arbour of safety
In which, if you are able,
You'll begin to unpick
The fettering threads of despair
And release to me
The gift of your story.

And I, not guiding,
But quietly receiving
Will try to fix you
By not trying to fix you.
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Comments

grace said…
this is beautiful Iain. I relate to it so completely in regards to my relationship with Todd.
27 September 2008 at 09:46
Iain said…
Grace,

Aww thank you! Wonder if there's a branch of the Samaritans near you? I think you'd be pretty good at it!

There are a few branches in the USA; I know for certain there's one in Boston.

There may be a few mods to the poem coming up. I've got it handwritten down and there are still some alternative word choices I'm agonising over!
27 September 2008 at 10:48
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