Genre: Broadway MusicalArtist: Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Album: Phantom soundtrack
This song comes from a lesser-known musical of "Phantom of the Opera," simply called "Phantom." The song itself is actually based on a poem by my favorite poet, William Blake. The original poem is called "Little Black Boy" and talks about a little black slave being taught by his mother. She tells him that God lives far off where the sun rises and there He gives His light to everybody and that our bodies are just clouds hiding our spirits. Some clouds are white, some clouds are black, but inside is the same spirit--a child of God. She tells him that one day the clouds will vanish and we'll all be able to return to live with God. The boy decides that he will continue to serve his master, a young white boy until they are taken together back to God, where the little white boy will finally love him. It's a beautiful poem.
In the song, the Phantom changes a few of the lyrics to talk about how he lives in darkness, but his soul is light. He laments the fact that nobody can see beyond his hideous face, but holds out hope that one day when we're taken back to God people will be able to look at him and love him. By the way, he sings this just after Christine runs away because she saw his ugly face. One of my favorite lines is: "We are put on earth a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love." The invokes two images in my mind. First, the burden of loving someone and then having your heart broken. Second, I imagine the Savior carrying His cross, literally a great, wooden beam that represents the greatest love anybody has ever had.
Now, of course, I'm not a black slave and I'm not nearly as ugly as the Phantom. But I love this song for other reasons. Each person belongs to some class and race. Many times, people are unable to look past this "cloud" that we all have covering our spirits. In the Middle East, ancient brothers attack each other because they see a cloud titled "Jew" or "Palistinian." In other places, people despise "American" clouds. I, like the little black boy and the Phantom, long for the day when people will be able to see past these clouds that cover our spirits and we may "lean in joy upon our Father's knee" and love each other.
