"love is the province of the brave"

There are moments in life when you stumble across something, be it a painting, a song, or a particular few lines in a book or poem, that makes you stand absolutely still and reflect on your self and surroundings. This happened to me last year with the song 'Province' by TV on the Radio. The various elements of this song have converged in one place through chance, and the result is a song which speaks volumes to me; the lyrics are the modern equivalent of T.S. Eliot's disillusioned post-World War I poems, the piano has exactly the kind of unearthly timbre which I am constantly trying to recreate, and David Bowie sings backing vocals.

Suddenly, all your history's ablaze
Try to breath, as the world desintegrates
Just like autumn leaves, we're in for change
Holding tenderly to what remains
And all your memories, are as precious as gold
And all the honey, and the fire which you stole
Have you running through all your red-cheeked days
Shaking loose these souls, from their sacred hiding space

However until recently I'd never seen the video, until an idle afternoon last week following a youtube maze I came across it. If possible, I now like Province even more than before.

It's a very simple idea - the woman in military uniform is the main focus of the video, just her singing with a male voice, while the background constantly morphs between images of a forest, birds, cages, planes, planets and stars. She is shot twice by the animals which lurk at the edges with hunting guns, and finally dies. I actually get teary at this video, and an AMV which uses the song with clips from the anime Grave of the Fireflies from 1988, which tells a heartbreaking story of two children orphaned in the firebombing of Kobe in the World War II... I well up just thinking about it. Gah.

After all that, today I wore:

Denim skirt from Next 90s and chopped in two unceremoniously by me, white jumper from Beyond Retro (Great Marlborough Street), burgundy tights from Topshop.

I long for the return of being able to go to school and come home in the hours of daylight.