Aaron’s Rod

 

Background

 

Aaron’s Rod is the name of a band that was formed whilst I was studying for my ‘A’ Levels in Woking, Surrey, before I attended the University of Birmingham in 1982. Seven songs were written at that time, and the lyrics and tunes that I wrote had a guitar part added after the songs had been written with the aid of a Kawai electronic organ in my family home. Other band members joined in at subsequent rehearsals in which drums and a bass guitar part now also accompanied five of the tunes. About ten years later, whilst I was travelling in South-East Asia, during a two-year around-the-world journey, three further songs were written, in 1992, this time without the aid of a keyboard instrument. I subsequently arrived in India, in April 1992, where I embarked upon a spiritual pilgrimage, and engaged with the writings of Swami Vivekananda and other Indian gurus. The three songs that were written in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, continued with a conceptual theme that was developed in the earlier songs, now with a focus on spiritual awakening and healing. One further song was written in Kashmir, India, in 1994, after I had completed my M.Sc. in Organisational Psychology at the University of Manchester.

 

      The eleven songs together form a conceptual whole, and I am now enjoying learning to play the guitar with the view to one day recording the songs with other band members. The final song on the envisaged album is entitled ‘A Dream Which Came True’, and is a poem and an a cappella folk song:

 

A Dream Which Came True

 

1. So rare that gem – a dream which came true,

He reflects on the jewel lake, Nageen.

The memory whispers a love song unplanned,

In a land where new lovers had been.

 

 Ch. So love that – we must,

And love that – we do,

And love that in silent refrain.

While hearts continue to fly in the shade,

Our thoughts build a fettered domain.

 

 

 

 

2. White sands, crystal sea, and horizons so clear

That no limits were tied to their thoughts.

So they naturally touched in a sleep most profound,

While moist eyes knew the tenderness sought.

 

 Ch. So love that – we must,

And love that – we do,

And love that in silent refrain.

While hearts continue to fly in the shade,

Our thoughts build a fettered domain.

 

 3. “We must part”, with no plan… yet to meet soon, for sure,

For to seek is a treasure to find.

The jewel of the heart claims no one for its own,

Though it plays through the image of time.

 

 Ch. So love that – we must,

And love that – we do,

And love that in silent refrain.

While hearts continue to fly in the shade,

Our thoughts build a fettered domain.

 

 4. In Kashmir, where the mountains reflect on the lake,

Kingfishers dive into the dark.

That fathomless love, neither yours, neither mine,

Yields a vessel all hands can embark.

 

 Ch. So love that – we must,

And love that – we do,

And love that in silent refrain.

While hearts continue to fly in the shade,

Our thoughts build a fettered domain.