Where I Go When The Music Plays

Try, he said, handing me the paintbrush. I was looking at a blue dolphin drawing that I was meant to recreate. I had watched closely while he was making the painting and had seen that glow in his eyes that always greeted the glow in mine with a certain reverence – I saw that glow and the ease with which he could spill his heart onto paper with any colour, telling any story. I should have been paying attention to the painting itself, how to swirl the outline, the technique he used to make it look so real, instead of being enamoured with his soulfulness.

And as if I was not already drowning in his eyes, distracted, Sishii’s Levity was like a strong flow of ocean waves, pulling me deeper into the centre of this whirlwind feeling that was working alongside this glass of wine to disorient me. The string arrangement of the song was threading the evening together so beautifully in my mind, lost in thought, I softly reflected on the many events that had to occur so I wouldn’t miss out on this young man’s brilliance. If I had not finished my semester test when I finished it on that day, I would not have met our mutual friend. If I had not decided on that Sunday to go visit the church I had been promising myself to visit over some months, I would not have had the chance to meet him and the endless other things that worked together for this butterfly effect to culminate into this third date.

I particularly heard nothing he said when this song was playing, and if I was drowning before, Sishii’s voice was now the surfboard that was helping me ride the waves of this evening’s intensity. Was this the ‘meeting of souls’ feeling that those older and wiser spoke of? That “when you know, you know” moment was happening right now? Is this what it feels like to know? There aren’t any angel voices, but that’s fine because Sishii’s voice felt close enough to the sound I thought I’d hear when the angels sing “this is he, given to you by the heavens”.

I had always believed in love at first sight, maybe not at first sight, but I had always believed it was possible for strangers to know quickly that they are meant to love each other. I never used to know how to articulate my reason for believing this, but one day I discovered a possible inspiration for an argument to make in this case. In Luke 1:41, it speaks of a moment between Elizabeth mother of John the Baptist & Mary mother of Jesus Christ: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him.” The leap is seen as a sign of divine recognition, showing that the unborn John the Baptist acknowledged the presence of Jesus, even before birth.”

Through this, I understood that something in you can leap in divine recognition of someone standing before you who could be sent by God to love you. So was this possible that, after about 3 weeks, this was a leap of the souls recognizing each other? Side note: Can the other person tell exactly when you fell for them, and does it scare them?

The truth is, None of this happened.

There was no third date. No shared glass of wine. No young man glowing across the table from me.

This night exists only where music plays.

This is where music takes me.

When a song like Levity plays, it doesn’t just make a sound that is pleasant; it creates a world within the walls of my mind, it’s directing a movie, telling me a story, a story that is dynamic. And while the lyrics stay the same, the interpretation and application of a song changes as the days of our lives change.

One of my favourite niche music genres is cinematic music. I hope this song takes you somewhere beautiful as well when you listen.