The Torch

from Dead Reckoning by Kate Fenner

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about

The spark for this song came from reading "Letters from Max", a correspondence between poet Max Ritvo and playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl. I think I stole something from them, but for the life of me, I can't find it, rereading the letters. My apologies.
It's about the feeling, when accompanying someone through their last days, that you can somehow go with them without dying yourself.

lyrics

The Torch

I thought I could carry the torch into the night where you were headed.
Fifty years of fire on my mind, cantabile.
I thought by calling you back I could stop the progression, and charge a life force from a spark of recognition. I wanted to carve it in stone and force a confession.
I wanted to carry the torch into the night where you were headed.
What would it take til I believed that you believed me?
I’m below your sky, under your wing.
I thought I could pray to a god and make your body get better, and when that didn’t work, that one day we’d meet up again together. I’d be your daughter there and you would be my teacher, and I’d carry the torch into the night where we were headed.
The soul is a useful thing, bright and lonely.
I’m below your sky, under your wing.

credits

from Dead Reckoning, released January 15, 2023
Kate, Mark (guitar and piano), Connor, Stéphane.

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Kate Fenner New York, New York

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