“Now that the treatment and antidepressants And seven months sober have built me a bed In the back of your brain where the memories flicker And I paw at the synapses, bright bits of string You should know I am with you, know I forgive you Know I am proud of the steps that you’ve made Know it will never be easy or simple Know I will dig in my claws when you stray So let us rest here like we used to In a line of late afternoon sun Let it rest, all you can’t change Let it rest and be done”
Virtute At Rest by John K Samson
John K Samson of the Weakerthans has written three songs from the perspective of a cat named Virtute, about her companion – someone whose story we never really know, but who is introduced with the lines “Why don’t you ever want to play? / I’m tired of this piece of string / You sleep as much as I do now / And you don’t eat much of anything”. The songs – the cat, who ultimately runs away in a song that reduces me to a blubbering wreck every time – is so clearly a metaphor for depression, with the last part so very obviously about surviving it. It’s why I have the artwork of the cat, etched on the back of the record, tattooed on my collarbone.
Submitted by Lisa-Marie Ferla aka Last Years Girl via our contribution page