I Am the Kick of a Salmon's Tail

Today, I have a song to share. It's been stuck in my head on and off for weeks now, and I find it appropriate to post it here: "Mother Earth's Revenge" by Karan Casey. I've included a mediocre recording (because it was the only one I could find), and the lyrics, because it's rather hard to hear them in the video.

I am a hawk on a mountain side
A crashing wave on a winter's tide
The breeze that blows on a tall ship's sail
I am the kick of a salmon's tail

I'm up above and I'm down below
I'm black and white, I'm sand and I'm snow
I'm all around and I live within
I'm mother earth, the spirit in all living things

I'm winter white, oh I'm autumn gold
I'm summer's bloom, I'm spring's new soul
I'm every season with the birds that sing
I'm mother earth, the spirit in all living things

But you cut down the trees
Your fumes, they choke the breeze
You burn the world for oil
And you poison the soil

So I'll flood the plains
I'll drown you in acid rain
I'll pour forth a curse
And return you back to dust

When lightning strikes, well, you'll know I'm near
You knew the beauty, now feel the fear
Your storm rolls in, well, you better hide
I'll make you wish that you weren't alive

I am a hawk on a mountain side
A crashing wave on a winter's tide
The breeze that blows on a tall ship's sail
I am the kick of a salmon's tail


So why do I find it appropriate for this blog? A few reasons, actually. Let's start with the format of the song. In one of the creative writing classes I took, we were asked to write an "I am" poem--a piece with no rhythmic patterns necessarily, and no rhyme, but the repetition of "I am" at the beginning of every line. It was a surprisingly powerful experience, and I've become rather fond of "I am" poems. If done right, it really connects the reader and the writer with the things at the ends of the lines. In addition, this song includes all sorts of natural imagery, which ties in directly to the spiritual practice of most Witches (if it doesn't, you may consider rethinking your spiritual views).

And, I think, the reason it's been sticking with me so much lately is that the God and Goddess are also all these things: the hawk, the salmon's tail, the wind, the sea. So, whether Casey meant it or not, she is tying the singer of the song (and the listener) with the divine--and a rather non-subtle jab at what humanity is doing to the environment, but that's not really the part that interests me. I just find it fascinating that such a simple structure, when really studied, can be so profound. This song is a reminder of something I try repeat to myself every day: "I am part of the Divine; I am a child of the God and the Goddess, and I am a goddess in my own right."

I suppose I ought to add "and I am the kick of a salmon's tail" to the end of that.