Do you take me as a scarecrow?
Do I not yearn to fly?
Crucified and stuffed with straw, condemned to live a lie

from Dirge For A Mutinous Philosopher
Captain Vulpine

The image of a lonely Scarecrow protecting a farmer’s field is an archetype most of us can envision instantly.  There they stand, lonely & protective – yet ultimately powerless.  As Captain Vulpine says in his amazing song: “condemned to live a lie”

And like a Scarecrow, do we not sometimes look out into the world & feel powerless?  As if the ravens, crows & other scavenger birds mock our very existance?  Do we not stand guard over our material possessions & yet do we not “yearn to fly?”

I know I do.

I know there have been times in my life when I have felt like a Scarecrow – “Crucified and stuffed with straw, condemned to live a lie”.  Stuck & unable to move.

But then at times like that, I look around & see the beauty in the world.  I see all the wonderful possibility that stretches out before me.  It is then that I know that I am not a Scarecrow, but a Man on a journey to a greater destiny.  I think the end of the song sums this idea up nicely:

Take me for the devil, acknowledging a friend.
Take me as the winter, but does not winter end?

Take me as a bat,
Gestating in the serpent.
The Scarecrow’s only friend,
That is I, Emergent.

from Dirge For A Mutinous Philosopher
Captain Vulpine

Emergent.

Emerging from the fields & stepping out onto the road to walk the Path that lays before me.

Tell me your thoughts on the metaphor of the Scarecrow, or what you think of Captain Vulpine’s song.  Or share with us a metaphor of your own – one that speaks to you & my help others see the world differently.

Until next time…