"Starcrossers" written by Devin Gackle, July 2018
I believe things happen for a reason, and the people who come and go in our lives do so for a reason. I'm also a big believer in the impact travel can have on your life, and while experiences are key in that, people also play a big role.
If you guessed that I'm a hopeless romantic, you guessed correctly. Since I'm a hopeless romantic, in this song I wanted to explore the idea of finding love while traveling, but knowing at the start that time together will end. I wanted to question how fate plays a role in our lives, and delve into what it feels like to meet someone you never expected to meet, but circumstance doesn't allow you to be with them.
It's bittersweet - sorrowful and heartbreaking to lose something hardly before it's been given, but lovely to have the gift in the first place and know it's worth it.
That then poses the question, does distance matter? Is your love strong enough to defy "fate" and cross the stars? Are you patient enough to wait for the right opportunity? Do you ask yourself what if it doesn't work out, and still think it'd be worth trying? Do you ask yourself, what if it does?
I would say only time would tell, but I think the heart knows.
Sometimes you meet the right person at the wrong time. And that's okay. So maybe that brief time together is just what you needed, and it's all you can ask for.
It's the thing that makes you believe and hope again, and gives you a lifelong friend.
My friend told me love is whatever you want it to be, and by that I think he meant love doesn't have to be this overarching theme of life. It doesn't have to be as big as we make it seem. It can be stolen moments, enjoying the time you have, and knowing that what you have is as real as air, as real as anything.
Love can be a collection small, simple moments. And those moments can change you - how you perceive the world, even how you perceive yourself. That love opens you up to the things you'd forgotten you had inside you. The things you hid away to keep them safe.
It reminds you you can't bottle love away; it's when you put love out into the world that it returns to you.
This is a song about love, travel, acceptance, sorrow, and hope.
Lyrics:
I know I'll have to leave you, I don't need to be reminded
I know this is all the time we get
I know you'll have to leave me, but I know you won't deceive me
I just want the time that we have left
So hold on to me until it's time to let go
This is the piece of my heart that belongs to you
It's the one thing I can give that's lasting
If you keep it safe then you may find
We could be starcrossers, and distance is just a state of mind
We fell a little bit in love, we don't need more than that
So I will take these stolen moments
You were the one who said love is whatever you want it to be
You taught me to keep my heart open
So hold on to me until it's time to let go
This is the piece of my heart that belongs to you
It's the one thing I can give that's lasting
If you keep it safe then you may find
We could be starcrossers, and distance is just a state of mind
It hurt so much to leave this behind
I'll always wish we had more time
But we have no regrets
And all I want for us is happiness
I can't ask for more than this
So hold on to me until it's time to let go
This is the piece of my heart that belongs to you
It's the one thing I can give that's lasting
If you keep it safe then you may find
We could be starcrossers, and distance is just a state of mind
We could be starcrossers, yeah distance is just a state of mind