“What Is This?” is a Lovibond May Rowanwood song from the Rowanwood music catalogue, centered on themes of existential rupture, disorientation, and the search for meaning, carried by a dynamic electronic arrangement that shifts between intensity and dreamlike release.
In the evening’s soft golden light
When shadows darken and lengthen
Pointing toward the coming night
Air tastes of a forgotten dream
A warming tingle strokes the skin
Resurrecting a memory
Pulling the heart to the horizon
A chill runs through my mind and body
I shudder in my sinking flesh
Suspended in time’s humidity
I have lost all access and touch
Of what I know as reality
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
As the Moon rises I find myself standing alone
At the abyss of eternity the edge of the unknown
When things are aligned darkness descends
As though we are designed to not comprehend
In a sudden blackness at the water edge
I find the sky above and below out spread
Countless stars there is some understanding here I cannot grasp
In deep spoken contemplative prayer I dare to ask
Who am I? What am I? What is my task?
Am I ever to be moving from mask to mask?
Things move askew and light returns at last
Is it time slowing down or my mind moving fast?
Here where we see clearly things are not clearly seen
We’re distracted confused transfixed deceived
That of which we are certain is based on what we need
Having little to do with objective reality
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
Morning breaks hard
Sunlight cracks crisp
Mind and body cold
Uncertainty drifts
A feeling of clarity
Renewed refreshed
As though I escaped
The grasp of death
A certainty of spirit
Though no answer found
A limitless sky
A solid ground
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
What is this?
When I touch you I ask a question
Longing to be enveloped not invade
A gilded morning sky puts you in mind
No matter how deep I go no wall do I find
No limits no borders
No edges no ends
All contained in you
What is this?
What is this?