Morbid
'So what’s on the other side?'
We couldn’t ask him because he was dead, cold and gone
As they moved him from the blood stained ground, his closed
eyes told a story
Of pain, anger and hard change
Of man, myth and assumptions
Of truth and what we were made for
Of an other side and the possibilities of things unseen
'What’s on the other side?'
At his graveside we mumbled lyrics from an old hymnal we
didn’t believe
It was all we could use to comfort our hearts in our loss
We can’t ask the one who’s gone our question
The one around who provides us with answers we reason out and argue
with philosophies
'How can it be?'
'Impossible!'
We want to EVERYTHING explained before we embrace
We want a reason to believe, even to believe ourselves
But it not just the other side that’s unbelievable
Ourselves too; the fact that one day we close our eyes and
never open them again
As they lowered him into the marbled hole
He wasn’t whole enough to tell us if the rumors we have of
the other side were true
I whispered a prayer which if answered would have caused a castrophe
It went like this: 'Please wake up, Just for a minute and speak. Tell us what you saw when you closed your eyes and then lie back
But answers cause that would have made history
But maybe
Maybe he has played his part
Maybe we have to choose what we want to believe about the other
side
And then on the other side we are faced with what is
Cause the rumors you choose to believe never changes the
truth on the other side
Morbid: The Interview
Why ‘Morbid’? Why something so dark? Why did you choose to discuss
death? Did you ever think who’s gonna want to read it?
Oh yeah! I sure did. I had my fears in writing this like I
always had my fears about death and what happens once we stepped on the other
side. In fact I had my fears if there was an ‘otherside’. I think death is a
topic our generation avoids and our current culture overlooks. I mean, it’s not
the theme of the top charted songs on billboard or the bestselling movies in
Hollywood or the newest musical video with skimpy girls on MTV. But I think
it’s something humanity is destined to face, and there’s an escape, a backdoor?
A backdoor? Interesting, we would talk about that later on but before
then, would you say you are fascinated with death?
No I’m not *laughs* but really who isn’t, but you know the
very thought of it is dark and pessimistic. You sit down with your friends and
you say “friends today we are discussing death” now that’s absolutely awkward.
The whole world would term you insane and in need of a psychologist which is in
some part a good recommendation but when we live our lives like it (death)
never existed, I think one might be needing the same (a psychologist) too
*laughs*. The consequences are also undesirable.
What are the undesirable consequences?
I think first is a lack of perspective of the view of life.
Taking death into consideration, helps know life is for a limited time, you are
not forever young and you wouldn’t be *laughs*. Life is more like an
assignment, there’s this urgency, it’s like the colorful life is saying to us
even without the theories: Do all you have to do fast you don’t know when you
will be gone. Like a shop till you drop but the time limit’s been hidden from
you.
Hmmm. ‘Like a shop till you drop but the time limit’s been hidden from
you’, I think I like that. So talking about the verse/poem titled ‘Morbid’
there’s a young dead man who’s got a friend reflecting by his grave side and
death scene. The friends have a number of questions for him about the ‘Otherside’,
the friend reminiscing wants to confirm some of the rumors to know which is
true but he is ‘dead, cold and gone’. What are some of the rumors we try to
confirm as humans?
Oh! There are a lot! The different school of thoughts about
death, some say it’s an escape to another world, some say after we die we
return as animals, some say that’s the end; like that ends it and so on and on.
And these many rumors about what happens on the other side, what happens when
we close our eyes in fact throws us in to a limbo of not being sure of exactly
what to choose. And in fact it sets a lot of people on different quests trying
to confirm these rumors such as necromancy, mediums and all sorts.
Your main character in the story is desperate even to the point of offering a prayer for the dead one to come back. How is this desperation replicated in our societies?
I think it's silent and more in the style of questions that wake people up at night. Like I said earlier people hardly talk about this topic but that doesn't mean they don't have urgent and pressing questions about this.
How have you dealt with death personally?
I think for me my process started a few years ago when I
came across a book by Ted Dekker titled ‘The Martyr Song’. It was a story about
a little girl called Nadia who was faced with so much pain and suffering.
Before then I was a Christian (and I still am) and never really considered it,
it wasn’t preached from the pulpit on Sundays. All I knew about it was the
nagging fear in the closet of my heart but I never dealt with it. I think for
me that book set me on a quest to find out for myself the truth amongst the
many rumors
So what did you find out?
A backdoor. *laughs* yes a backdoor that it can be escaped.
Also that there are various forms of it, that there’s a life on the other side
and that the choices we make here determine how and where we spend that life.
I’m still discovering
Tell me a bit about the backdoor
The bible makes me understand that whoever comes to Jesus
would not taste death and you know what, lots of theologians have explained
this in various forms but I choose to take it as it is, I choose to believe
this by faith. Do Christians die? Yes they do, they close their eyes and never
wake up again on this side but I think this part of scripture really talks
about us not experiencing that taste, that dark and deadly fang of death, that
part that makes people so scared and live in fear. The Christian is exempted
from this dread and I feel blessed and favored to be one. And the great part is THERE
IS an other side, it’s beautiful and incomparable with this side.
Wow! Thanks. So one last word, what would you like to leave us with
That death does exist and the very fact of embracing life
includes embracing the reality of it and that also there’s a back door in Jesus
Christ. We could save ourselves a lot of stress trying to confirm the rumors of
the other side if we embrace that.
Thank you once more, it was great chatting with you
You’re welcome; it was a joy ride talking with you
