#86 I’m A Rocker by Bruce Springsteen

“True love is broken
and your tears are fallin' faster

You're sufferin' from a pain in your heart
or some other natural disaster”

The “Rocker”, the superhero of love. He promises that where all others fail, he delivers. He’s got what it takes and more. And he says again and again: “I’m a Rocker”. A what? Wait, what is that supposed to mean? He’s a rocker? He’s a Rock N’ Roller? As in Sex, Drugs, & ???
That wouldn’t inspire confidence in me to trust in this “I can do it all and better than anyone can” man.

But he keeps saying it: I’m a rocker…I’m a rocker…I’m a rocker….I’m a rocker…

…and like a newborn baby we are rocked in the cradle of security - in the arms of a promise made over and over again without hesitation. He’s consoling; he’s promising to hold on and never let go. He is persistent and unconditional in his devotion. When a heart is broken, one of life’s many “natural disasters”, it may not know where to turn. It finds it hard to trust again. Like a mother holding her child on the front porch swing in the midst of a sudden windstorm, he is promising a strong, secure place to hide and a soft place to let an uncertain heart fall.

For Complete Lyrics Visit: http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/ImARocker.html

#85 I’ll Work For Your Love by Bruce Springsteen

"Now our city of peace has crumbled

Our book of faith's been tossed

And I'm just out here searchin'

For my own piece of the cross”

The complexity of what lies between man and woman and the ever present third party of “all that stuff we’re so scared of” touches even the deepest, most spiritual parts of our humanity. Faith, devotion, grace, promises, and everything we open ourselves to when we open our heart to another gives the bond between two people a stronger thread to bind ourselves in as well as another of life’s complex mazes of doubt, fear, and pain to find our way through.

When someone loves us, they unwittingly offer us some piece of redemption. And that small piece of grace that flows from that love strengthens our faith in this human connection. And that faith, in turn, allows us to promise devotion and faithfulness in a world filled with broken vows.

Everything we bring into a relationship, our own experiences, our culture’s expectations and lies, life’s countless promises of happiness, and all the sweet and sorrowful “dust of civilizations” come along for the ride. No matter how much we try at not taking this relationship for granted or at not allowing someone or something else to define what we will be, these “sweet remains” slip into the mix and slowly evolve and erode our ideals and intentions over time.

The “pages of Revelation” are filled with turmoil and judgment. However, they are also filled with deliverance and salvation. So is love. Love has the power to throw us to our knees and leave us writhing in futility but also the strength to lift us up out of our darkest inner chambers and save us again and again. Our fall from grace as humans leaves us to wander in our sinful state at the mercy of our own and others sinful inclinations. But even amongst such destitution, love, “like a rhythm unbroken”(U2) continues to redeem, to save, and to willingly offer grace to one desperate heart after another.

For Complete Lyrics Visit: http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/IllWorkForYourLove.html

#84 I Wish I Were Blind

“And the light that once entered here

Is banished from me

And this darkness is all baby that my heart sees”

A suicide song. The darkness blocks out any traces of hope. Any reason for believing, for living have succumbed to the all consuming grief of losing someone you love. The pain is so unbearable, what can be done to end it? Stop it. Kill it. There is only one way out. Blinding oneself to the graces of God’s hand is an understandable choice given the anguish of the alternative. Blinding oneself to life’s cruel beauty is the only way to escape.

Any experience of loss accompanied by constant reminders of that loss and the reality of its irrevocability can take the light right out of you. It can make even the most developed of souls return the places from which they once escaped. And the pull of the darkness is strong, it is familiar, it is safe.

The death of a relationship is filled with enough pain – add to that the blossoming of a new one – one that involves the person you love and someone else. Knowing that someone else is bringing your loved one the happiness you could not bring is a truly painful experience. Some mating habits of bluebirds teach us that a relationship is forever. It is complete devotion until “death do us part”. Promises of eternity abound in nature’s hand – blossoms returning every spring without fail, an endless sky filled with countless stars – and they assure us that the heart is worth giving.

We believe in the promises of forever. We believe in the dream. But as Springsteen so often questions, “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true – or is it something worse?”

It is something worse. It is agony. It is darkness. It is death.

For Complete Lyrics Visit: http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/IWishIWereBlind.html