Heather Nova Do Something That Scares You
Yesterday, I walked outside
Out into a sea of dust, arid and dry
And so hot and so unbelievably radiant
And unforgiving
And I watched myself go under
And I felt energy rising
And then I saw this woman coming towards me
All heat and haze
But with a smile like a river that swept me up
And I took my hand and I put it in hers
And I said, "Will you be my spirit guide?"
And she said, "You don't need a spirit guide
All you gotta do is ride
You just close your eyes and then open them wide"
She said
Do something that scares you
Do something that scares you
And I washed my hands in the clear green water
Rushing from the mountain like some kind of absolution
Like a resurrection
I put my whole body into the water
Like I was transforming, a chrysalis
I could taste the dirt
The red earth on my tongue
And I felt like I was just a girl,
Seventeen, looking for something, edgy and green
And bursting and beautiful and undecipherable
With the reins held tight
And I felt like I was just holding onto a thread
Taking off, ready for joy, on a bird's wing, fragile
And I heard that voice
Do something that scares you
Do something that scares you
Do something that makes you feel
Do something that makes you feel
And I stood on the edge of that cliff
And I realized I was all alone
With no way up or down
And I was scared
And I started to climb
Up, up, up
And I could suddenly feel
And I could feel rain on my skin, sweet and cold
And I could feel all the pain from all the years
All the sweat and all the untold passions and the tears
Like rain flowering in me so strong
Like jasmine, and releasing me
And I fell onto the sand and I put up my hands
And I put up my body arms
And I cried with the rain
And I felt myself becoming myself
Like I was freed from the beliefs that I'd been handed as a child
Like I could see the world from above
Like I could live pure
And I took off that red ribbon from around my head
And I buried it under the yellow earth, scratching at the sand
Burying it deeper and deeper
Into the heat, into the core
I said
I did something that scares me
I did something that scares me
I did something that makes me feel
I did something that makes me feel
I did something that makes me feel
Alive
