The Fire of Music

Sometimes, I’ll be flipping through books or the internet looking at old pictures of my favorite band members and I’ll see how happy they used to be, and how passionate they were about their music, and how much they celebrated their lives. But then I’ll close the books, turn the computer off, and starkly realize that they’re gone. It’s such an obvious fact, but I guess living so often in the past makes me feel as though events long-elapsed have just happened. That the blade still feels hot although it’s been cool for years…decades even. I look at these musicians and realize that I’ll never see them, never hear them play, never almost touch their hand at a concert. And it just…kills me a little. But then I remember that they bequeathed to me a treasure map—their music. And maybe, just maybe, if I follow that treasure map, it’ll reveal secrets of their legacies—gems that they left behind for me to find. And that unending search will never cease to kindle the fire of music inside me.