Rise is a song about a person going through the miracle of new birth, as seen through the eyes of an onlooker who, though amazed & awestruck by the transformation, doesn't really understanding what is happening. It was one of the first things I'd written that wasn't intended for a congregation to sing, though I did perform it once at a baptism at Grace Church.
Rise started life as a poem written about my newborn daughter. I filed it away for a few years, then dug it out one night and started singing it. I started developing similar metaphors (plants, brides) for verses 2 & 3, and the bridge, and the song as you hear it (minor tweaks aside) was completed that very night.
That kind of speed is very rare for me.
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Lyrics (pdf)
Rise
I see you rise, rise like the Sun
Drawing along the dawn.
I see you rise, a butterfly girl,
A chrysalis newly born.
Lazarus-like you rub your eyes
And stretch your wings & fly.
You rise and I stand
Feet firmly planted on the ground
I see you rise and I smile
As you soar so high you must be heaven bound.
I see you rise, a tender young plant
Reaching towards the light.
I see you rise, roots drawing life
From somewhere just out of sight.
As we sleep like seeds
Still frozen fast in winters night
You rise and we stand...
And oh, what I wouldn’t give
To feel like you feel, to know like you know.
And oh, what I wouldn’t pay
To have that river of life flood my soul.
I see you rise, rise like a bride
At the dawn of her wedding day.
I see your eyes fixed on the one
You vow you will not forsake.
Who is this prince who came
And kissed your sleeping soul awake?
You rise and I stand…
© Matt Blick. Grace Church Nottingham 2007
Related Posts: New Song: You Spoke The Stars
More free songs by Matt Blick
Matt - This song is beautiful!
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