By Rhiannon Sue Fisk

He floats on a raft he was forced to build

When his family was not saved

He knows what’s it’s like to wonder how

He’ll evade a watery grave

And even though he’s still in shock

He can sense mistakes they’ve made

But nothing matters anymore

To the man lost in the waves

CHORUS:

Oh Fortune, Oh Fate, Oh Destiny

Why have you done me wrong?

The minutes and hours of everyday

Have never seemed so long

He sits in a seat he was forced to fill

When his daddy could not stay

He knows what it’s like to wonder why

All the people feel betrayed

And even though he’s got a flock

Of those who will obey

Nothing matters quite as much

To the man who lost his way

Repeat CHORUS

She walks on a bridge she was forced to cross

When her kids were swept away

She knows what it’s like to wonder how

The fates of men can sway

And even though she thinks she’ll jump

To end this weary day

What matters more, a new life inside,

Voices a wish to stay

…it says…

CHORUS:

Oh Fortune, Oh Fate, Oh Destiny

I know I might be wrong

But living one hour of just one day

Seems worth this painful song

NOTES: 2004-5 was a depressing time.  Bush was incomprehensibly re-elected.  Less than two months later the Asian tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people and while we were still reeling Hurricane Katrina hit.  I was in my mid-twenties, and not handling the post-college structure vacuum well, so I felt overwhelmed by this veritable wave of global trauma.  Despite the sorrowful retelling of those true events, the song ends with a tone of hope, if ever so slight, because underneath the pain of living during times like those in 2004-5 is joy at the immense opportunity available to us if the universe grants us the chance to live at all.