In the end of 2020, I had to watch a fervent christian songwriter being attacked by other christians while he was going through a deconstruction of his faith. The christians assumed to be helping him, but their words and misguided Bible verses turned them into 'crows and vultures' that foretold the 'downfall' of this creator. You could hear his need for self-awareness and self-acceptance - despite what others might think-, through the songs he wrote during this time.
In the months that followed, bolstered by my own personal trauma, I gained more awareness regarding the question: 'what does it mean to love one another?'. What does it mean to take care of each other? I know people from the LGTBQ+ community who struggle to show their full selves because of the opinions of others. And when I look at the Dutch news, I see that migrant workers are more than welcome to do the dirty work, but are the first people that native Dutchies want to kick out of their houses because we prioritize our 'own people' first and they need the space. I myself wasn't welcome in a christian 'community' because of who I was, but they were so excited that I wanted to spend six months of my time, money and energy into what they needed. I really thought that I was a part of this. How naive.
Crows and Vultures is written as a Dark Ballad and talks about a break with the romantic, or rather the melodrama of the relationship we have with each other. If we believe in evil, this might be that the conflict we have with one another, welling up from the same visions/ambitions, gives space to this third party, evil, to destroy us. We might have felt whole, but this is not the case anymore.
Egocentrism is there in its core. Pride is a part of it. I compare it to the story of Icarus, the boy that flew too close to the sun:
Daedalus, his father, made wings out of feathers and wax to fly over the waters, away from Crete. He warned Icarus to be careful: too close to the waves and the foam would make the wings wet and too heavy. But the wax could also melt, would Icarus fly too close to the sun. Everything went well until Icarus flew up, because he forgot himself in the joy of the flight. The wax melted and he fell into the sea. The myth of Icarus is a tragedy because of two reasons: firstly is his death. Secondly, because he died because of the invention of his father and his own pride. It's not only a tragedy, but also a timeless warning. Icarus symbolizes our desire to achieve and it's a story about using our power wisely and carefully. Icarus symbolizes the desire to free ourselves from the limitations of the laws of mortals - to feel like a god. Icarus symbolizes what can happen to us when we strive towards the impossible while forgetting our humility.
I am constantly reminded of the sentence: pride comes before the fall. The fall of Icarus, the fall of Satan, the fall of us people with fervent ambitions, everything is because of pride. We see the enthusiasm of the 'now' and not the 'soon'.
The bridge is a question: if everything is said and done, if Jesus is back or the world is at an end, how would we look back? How would the people that have torn others down look back to the monsters they created and hated at the same time?
It ends with one sentence: give me angel wings of light, let me be a bringer of news with wings of light, let me be a humble blessing.