Stories of Songs: Space Commander

This piece is so detached from the actual song that, if not for the thread of the line as quoted below, it wouldn't even count! It's based on "Space Commander", again from MLTR's newest album Scandinavia. I'm hoping to expand to other artistes after a while, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy! :)

Space Commander

We descend into a magic world, under the purple sky.

The waves crashed against the shore, the wispy notes of a serenade. Sinking into the cradle that was the sea’s arms was an orange sphere, blazing with all the gone glory of yesterday, throwing its flames upon us like some memory trying to cling to the mind of the present, wistful and wrathful.

They were quiet for a while, the two of them, just standing on the beach, soaking in the violet beauty of the passing day.

“Our passing day,” breathed the woman, holding his hand to her face.

He spoke nothing, but his eyes shone their assent. Beneath his feet, the fine unadulterated sand rustled with the silent wind, bringing a chill to bodies that were unaccustomed to the coolness.

“Let’s never go back.” She turned to him, pleading with more than just her voice. “We could stay here forever, and leave—leave everything.”

With a shudder, it all came back to him.

The greyness.

The walls that chained in the bleakness of the world, sunken in some unknown year, dyeing the only life that they had ever known. Were the walls grey? Were they even any colour? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.

The fire.

It was all around them. The dying sun, burning whatever life there was left for the people, setting aflame the ground, the walls, the air, the limpness of their spirits and reducing them to an even more intense state of their death.

The noise.

Fire took a lot of forms. Even now, the hum and buzz of all the lack of life around him blazed in his ears, and the angry scarlet of the sky was red-hot in his mind, louder than his thoughts and threatening to drive him to jump into the sea before him to quench the flames that clawed at his body.

“Breathe,” she murmured, her voice lilting and flowing through his tears. Like honey.

Gentle her touch, soft as the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings.

Swoosh, sang the sea, reaching their frothy fingers towards him to calm him down with their peace. Blue. A calming colour.

“Purple,” he mused aloud, gazing around him.

“Yes.”

“It’s beautiful.”

For a moment, all they did was stand there.

There was no need for words.

No need for thoughts.

Or anything.

Just—

Life.

“In a short time this will all be gone,” said the man morosely, turning his eyes towards the sun. If only it would not leave this world, not even for the night. If only it would stop the world from turning. “Then these people, whom we somehow used to be, will suffer the life-without-death, the death-without-life, that we now know!”

She trembled under the storm of his passion, her colourless eyes warm against the descending moon.

“A few years is still joy enough,” she insisted. “Oh, do let’s stay here. We—”

Both of their heads snapped at the sound behind them—the tiniest of sounds, a sound they were familiar with. One that they had to know.

It was the sound of doom.

Of no escape.

After all, this was life.

The waves crashed against the shore.

Tell a Tale: Romantic Balcony

Here is one that I wrote some time ago, based on an older song by MLTR (hmm, maybe I should try other artistes, any suggestions?), Romantic Balcony. The song is simply lovely, and it breaks my heart every time. If you're an MLTR fan, you'll probably know what I mean. The lyrics, the melody...I love it to pieces.

So "Tell A Tale" will be a new series, where the stories are either based closely on the songs (as this one is) or just on the title. I don't want to create too many threads! Because this sticks so closely to the song, I've included the lyrics after the story. This is slightly different from my others, and I hope you enjoy! [Insert shameless plea to follow and comment.]

Romantic Balcony

“He’s here!” A loud shout penetrated the confusion enveloping the land. “Come on boys, let’s take him, quick!”

A jolt shot through his entire body as he was suddenly elevated off the ground. Put me down, he wanted to yell, but his lips wouldn’t move. The soil had been so soft, and the gunshots and battle cries had faded into numbness around him. He wanted to be put back down, back to the earth, where everyone went, sooner or later.

“Hang in there,” a hoarse voice sounded near his head. He shut his eyes tight, but managed to catch a glimpse of his friend’s face above his, staring down with a fierce determination.

“We’re going to take you to the tent,” said the voice firmly, as the face blurred out of view.

Ouch. He was not being over-gentle, nor was the other comrade pulling on his feet. Whoever it was, he seemed to be bouncing every step. Either they were being much too violent, or he was just so overwhelmed, that all this gradually morphed into a black, senseless fog that wrapped around his mind, warm and chilly at the same time.

The next thing he knew, the sun was almost down. It was quiet, sweetly so, and in the near distance he could hear the lullaby of the ocean softly brushing against the land. There was a gentle pressure on his hand, and lazily he turned his head to look down. In his tough brown hand lay a small white one, its warmth radiating to him, reach out to his entire being. His heart soared—he would recognize that slender hand anywhere.

Slowly, savouring the moment of anticipation, he angled his face towards the side, and saw a slim fair form pressed against him, a smile gently illuminating her delicate features.

Rose-red lips—fresh pink cheeks—glossy black hair—creamy pale eyelids that fluttered open to reveal a pair of soft blue eyes.

“Hello,” she murmured, her lips curving up into a quiet smile.

He smiled back down at her, but there was such a fog on him—so heavy—so hard to hold above his mind and body, that he couldn’t speak. He only clasped her hand tighter, never wanting to let go.

From somewhere near them, the smell of tulip tree wafted over, scenting the air with a serene lullaby. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and the last thing he saw was the starry sky they were sleeping under. He knew then, that they were on a balcony—a romantic balcony.

But a pain inside his chest woke him up—a sharp sensation that ripped through his torso; the fire seared through his veins and infected every part of his body in one moment. He was supposed to be falling asleep—what—why was he waking? As he gasped for air, the grip on his heart tightening, as if an ice-cold hand was squeezing it, the truth intruding his mind, a grey cloud of cloying bitterness. Weakly, he turned his head, ever so slightly, to avoid seeing the horrible sight of the smoky battlefield.

“How are you?” a gentle voice asked next to him. A cool cloth touched his forehead, waking him up.

So he had fallen asleep. Unless…

He choked out her name soundlessly—he couldn’t seem to force the beautiful word through his lips.

He tried again, but the nurse only soothed his forehead.

No, not her. But so alike. So alike it broke his heart. A line he had never really cared for sprang to his mind:

“There’s another, not a sister,

In the happy days gone by.”

He looked at the careful nurse, and saw that same face in tears, so far away from this “hell upon earth which men who have forgotten God have made”, saw the blue eyes filled with heartbroken tears, saw the cheeks white with grief, saw the lips quivering with shock. He squeezed his eyes shut, drawing in a long, ragged breath.

When he opened them again, the nurse was silently sponging his dirty arms. He wanted so much to tell her—to tell her that he loved his sweetheart back home, and wished oh! so much! to return to her, and spend the rest of his life with her. There was nothing—nothing in the world—or outside it—he wanted more. It filled his heart and soul, gave his spirit broken, battered wings that did no good—for he knew he would never go back. The threshold led to the other side of the grave for him. But his lips would not move.

The nurse turned to look at him, and to his disappointment her eyes were dark, the only dissimilarity between her face and his sweetheart’s. But those eyes back home—those eyes held so much love, hope and faith, her lips so much wit and vivacity.

As he turned his head back to look up at the dirty blue sky, he felt himself drifting away, for the last time this time.

The slender white vision of her came floating into his mind again, as a strange look of pain distorted his handsome features.

Still there was a strange comfort in leaving this place. He didn’t want to be a wounded soldier, forced to lose her face in the depths of his memory. And yet he didn’t want to go—he wanted to live—and go home.

But—if home, home where someone was waiting for him , was not an option, then death it was for him. The last thing he wanted was to be out in that terror, being a soldier still alive in the war.

He wanted to go back—to the ocean—to the smell of tulip tree, to the romantic balcony.

Romantic Balcony by Michael Learns to Rock

The sun is almost down

And we’re both enjoying the sound

Of the ocean softly brushing

Against the land

We are sleeping, you and me

With the smell of tulip tree

Under the starry sky

On a romantic balcony

But a pain in my chest

Wakes me up

The truth is slowly spreading on the

Smoky battlefield

I am bleeding from my heart and I…

I feel so tired

I guess I have to rest

For a while

High

Above

This world

Missing your love

High

Above

This world

Missing your love

I can see your face in tears when you

So far away from here

Read the message from the war:

“The battle took one more”

I want to tell the nurse a secret

My lips won’t move

Oh, she really looks like you

High (Nothing can touch us now)

Above (No one to tell us how)

This world (I am sorry for the soldiers who are)

Missing your love (Still alive in the war)

High (Nothing can touch us now)

Above (No one to tell us how)

This world (I am sorry for the soldiers who are)

Missing your love (Still alive in the war)

*Instrumental*

High (Nothing can touch us now)

Above (No one to tell us how)

This world (I am sorry for the soldiers who are)

Missing your love (Still alive in the war)

High (Nothing can touch us now)

Above (No one to tell us how)

This world (I am sorry for the soldiers who are)

Missing your love (Still alive in the war)

Hey you

I wanna live

I don’t wanna be a wounded soldier

Don’t wanna let your face grow older

Hey you

Take me to the ocean

Take me to the smell of tulip tree

On a romantic balcony

Hey you