“I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage”
- from Pacing The Cage by Bruce Cockburn
One of my favourite Cockburn lyrics is about finding yourself caught in a trap where your very identity is being pushed and pulled this way and that. Like all Cockburn’s lyrics there is spiritual dilemma and as in most there is a spiritual hope found even in the very heart of the darkness. One of Cockburn’s greatest gifts to us has been his ability to bring Christian hope into the world’s realism whether personal or political. Many of us find ourselves in many situations where we feel like we are indeed pacing the cage in the strictures of the constitution of the age. We should always keep an eye on the outbound stage!
Is the outbound stage the same thing as a Slow Train Coming?
Posted by: Slicer | 29/10/2010 at 04:04 PM