in which being incomplete is a good thing

so, what drew me to the song i'm sharing today first was the lyrics. as a writer, i like stories - and i prefer songs that tell me something other than how someone loves their hot S.O. (or the person they want to be their S.O.) or how awesome butts look in short shorts.


you know what I mean? there's a time and place for these sorts of songs, but their allure, to me, is fleeting at best. okay, not the ones about butts in short shorts, but you get my meaning.

alanis morissette is an amazing lyricist - i've talked about my love for her before. incomplete is one of those songs that really struck a chord with me. doesn't everyone's life feel incomplete? and don't we want it that way? it's the journey, not the beginning and end that counts. i know that's a trite saying, and sometimes things like that lose their meaning when people spout them in frivolous ways. but i really do believe it, especially since it's a hard lesson to learn.

enlightenment is a worthy goal.

one day i'll find relief
i'll be arrived
and i'll be friend to my friends who know how to be friends
one day i'll be at peace
i'll be enlightened and i'll be married with children and maybe adopt
one day i will be healed
i will gather my wounds
forge the end of tragic comedy

i have been running so sweaty my whole life
urgent for a finish line
and i have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

one day my mind will retreat
and i'll know god
and i'll be constantly one with her night, dusk and day
one day i'll be secure
like the women i see on their thirtieth anniversaries

i have been running so sweaty my whole life
urgent for a finish line
and i have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

ever unfolding
ever expanding
ever adventurous
and torturous
and never done

one day i will speak freely
i'll be less afraid
and measured outside of my poems and lyrics and art
one day i will be faith-filled
i'll be trusting and spacious, authentic and grounded and home

i have been running so sweaty my whole life
urgent for a finish line
and i have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

(mp3) incomplete by alanis morissette

and here's the video - i like this version better. i think acoustic fits the song better. but this is just my opinion, of course!