Old Mary,
Contrary,
To what everyone else thought you should be.
Old Mary,
So lonely;
You're locked up heart looked for love,
But never found the man with the key.
Sometimes you'd tell yourself everything
Turned out just how God meant it to be,
And it didn't matter anyway,
For you were too old to keep looking for fish in the sea.
But sitting broken on the shelf,
Did you ever believe yourself,
Or did you keep hoping that someday God,
Would send you company?
Old Mary,
Old Mary.
You sit lonely on your porch,
Knitting things for the man next door.
He doesn't notice anything you do,
And you smile, glad you didn't marry him.
But sometimes, laying alone at night,
You wish he had married you.
Sometimes you tell yourself everything
Turned out just how God meant it to be,
And it didn't matter anyway,
For you were too old to keep looking for fish in the sea.
But sitting broken on the shelf,
Did you ever believe yourself,
Or did you keep hoping that someday God,
Would send you company?
Old Mary,
Old Mary.
You dream of the man coming to you,
And kneeling down on one knee;
You dream of a day someone looks at you,
And sees more than just Old Mary.
Sometimes you tell yourself everything
Turned out just how God meant it to be,
And it didn't matter anyway,
For you were too old to keep looking for fish in the sea.
But sitting broken on the shelf,
Did you ever believe yourself,
Or did you keep hoping that someday God
Would send you company?
Old Mary,
Old Mary.
Except....
ReplyDeleteEverything DOES turn out the way God means it to be.
A lovely poem. Expressing oneself, experiencing life, not repressing the inner, being original and not a copy are also the theme of the poem
ReplyDelete"Are there individuals left in the land of man?"
Instead of their individuality
they follow the herd
they do not give a damn
about flying like a bird
They join in sects
and call themselves free
they are taught in-there methods
how to go down on their knee
http://makantobe.blogspot.com/2013/05/are-there-individuals-left-in-land-of.html
Thank you for your comments, guys! I'm surprised and pleased that one of my songs is striking such a conversation.
ReplyDelete@Alena, yes, I know dear. I would agree with you, EXCEPT: remember that, although God knew that sin would enter the world if He created people, but allowed it because of His love, He didn't "mean" for sin to enter the world. However, this actually has nothing to do with the song... More on that later. :)
@Firas, thank you for your comments! I like what you have to say, but I'm not sure I'd agree with the poem you compared "Old Mary" to, since it seems somewhat Anti-Christian, and that's not at all what I was trying to portray.
Ummmm... now to try to explain the song... eh. I'm not very good with words when it comes to explaining things, so please bare with me. :P
Yes, Mary is contrary to what other people think she should be. I don't think I go into that part of the song that much, although there are things you can pull from the rest of the song if you're one of those "deeper meaning people." I think I am to an extent, but I don't always really know what I'm going to convey until I convey it... All I'll say on that subject is that, sometimes it's good to be different from other people, and sometimes you're different in a bad way, just for the sake of rebelling.
I never once questioned whether Mary was actually RIGHT to believe everything turned out the way God meant it to be, but whether she believed herself. Sometimes, even when we know better, we question God, because of Sin. Mary (a fictional character, BTW) was lonely, so she fantasized on occasion about the man next door. However, I specifically explained in the song that these were thoughts she had when she was lonely at night, and on a whole, the two were terrible for each other.
There would be no problem with Mary staying single. There are good, happy, single people in the world. BUT the problem with Mary was that she was NOT content, she was lonely and miserable, and she fantasized about the man next door marrying her, because he was the nearest "possibility" (to borrow one of your favorite words, Alena :)). She said out loud that everything was the way God meant it to be, but in her head she complained to and about God, expecting Him to just send someone who'd "do all the work" for her.
Although "everything turns out how God means it to be," there are sometimes more than one good possibility, and God gives us choices. Mary chose to be miserable.
I could probably say more, but I'm tying my head in knots trying to explain this right now, so just let me know if you have any other specific questions. :)