I first heard the song "Nature's Kingdom" in the summer of 2001. I was living in a small New York City apartment at the time, working 90 hour weeks as a peon at a tedious office job, and the WTC 9/11 disaster was still a few months away in the future.When I listened to "Nature's Kingdom", the deeply evocative lyrics conjured up images of deserts, sand storms, drifting sleep, and the aching of some lost, fragile love. This might be why the song always reminded me of the movie The English Patient.
Inspired by both the film and the song, I edited a short video. I used found images from two beautifully made documentaries on deserts: BBC Planet Earth: Deserts, and National Geographic Africa 2: Desert Odyssey, as well as incorporating some scenes from the film The English Patient.
Here are some screen shots from the video:
Here are the lyrics to the song:
Nature's Kingdom (Delerium, ft. Kirsty Hawkshaw)
Moon beauty
To live and to love
In delirious bitter gardens
The vision floods
Under the mind sky
Night breaths
Whispering symphony
After a blood sun storm
Love's light relieves
With a goddess and a dream
In sleep's misty shade
I lie beneath
Worlds imaginary
With a goddess and a dream
In sleep's misty shade
I'm going out to meet
An old friend
Sing a true moment
Recall a trip
No language can heave
Through life
Like an ache, a sense
The blinding wind
Making believe
That if there's a sandstorm
You'll come and rescue me
Help me find my way
Back to the waking world
With a goddess and a dream
In sleep's misty shade
I lie beneath
Worlds imaginary
With a goddess and a dream
In sleep's misty shade
I'm going out to meet
An old friend
The desert knows
We are strangers
Until the sands of time
See through our eyes
We could be lost perhaps forever
But there's space in the air
And it's ages
Till sunrise
