All of this can be broken
Hold your devil by his spoke
and spin him to the ground
lyrics from "Devil's Spoke" by Laura Marling
I can't get enough of this CD, haunting melodic guitar riffs that float and gallop, lyrics both tender and fierce, and her insistent voice. Each track tells a story with a layer of delicious music that wraps mercifully around the lyrics–an occasional thread of unexpected banjo or mandolin, woodblock and tambourine, and some damn fine guitar work.
The lyric above keeps calling my attention, not the red devil with horns and pitchfork, but the idea that each of us has our own devil that can be spun to the ground. Wonder what a devil's spoke actually looks like…
The
angels, the furies
Are
never far away
While
we dance, they dance,
Trying
to keep a balance,
To
be perfectly human
(not
perfect, never perfect,
never
an end to growth and peril),
Able
to bless and forgive
ourselves.
This
is what is asked of us.
from "The Angels and the Furies"
by May Sarton