Scratchings in the sand, part 5 (or the dead girlfriends post)

when i was younger, my brother in his new wave days used to play a song by the smiths called "girlfriend in a coma".



when i heard that song and read the lyrics, i didn't understand why it drew such resonance in me. at that time, i was still a young boy in shorts and i had never loved someone that was not family. why did it bother me then, that idea of losing someone?

twelve years later,i hear the song by death cab for cutie, "what sarah said", and i feel so much of the loss conveyed in the lyrics.



and i think it is the last part of this song that was the message meant to be delivered to me by the first song-- or a warning. that love is watching someone die, whether it's you or it's someone you love.

and there it is: the idea that true love can only be felt if it is lost through death, that final divide that can never ever be bridged by either party no matter how you hard you struggle and fight.

but then, it hit me: a realization of a question answered. why am i bothered about the tragic death of a loved one? for the reason that death creates a perfect snapshot of true love's visage without the pain that the future will bring.

with death, your love will last forever.

Updated: here's another song-- a ballad actually-- about dead girlfriends by pearl jam, appropriately called "last kiss";