Ben Newman IF

Benjamin Newman, a computer science graduate student at Brandeis University, has been filking since his college friends dragged him to his first convention his freshman year at Swarthmore. Since then, he has acquired two guitars and written almost 200 songs on a wide range of topics, including SF and fantasy, science, computers, and religion, both singly and in various whimsical juxtapositions. Ben has also organized filk programming for Philcon, Concertino, and Pi-con.

Representative Work for the 2012 Pegasus. Note- this is NOT a song nominated for the 2012 Pegasus Awards.

Wandering Pilgrim Soul

Copyright © by Benjamin Newman- All rights Reserved
Used by Permission

I was an islander in the Southseas
Who thought a few islands her world
And I was a mariner, blown by the breeze
Who crested the breakers as they crashed and curled

In wide-eyed amazement I watched from the strand
As I beached my boat from some far-away land
And, because I was both of them, I understand
The wonder we're seeing unfurled...

The lives I've lived have carried me far --
Such places I've seen, such people I've been --
I can hardly dare guess what new life may begin
In the light of this falling star...

How is a person made whole?
In the meeting of hearts -- we're the sum of our parts --
And every new day is another new start
For a wandering pilgrim soul

I've been a pilgrim since time was begun
And remember for many a year
Though my memories fade into legends, not one
Recalls anything like what we just saw appear

A thing like a house falling out of the sky
With a terrible light and a deafening cry
My friend, you don't have to explain to me why
You don't think that it's from around here!

From this height I see the horizon stretched out
'Round the curve of the bay -- are there worlds far away?
Can a pilgrim not hunger to see them someday?
Isn't that what life's about?

And so I've made it my goal:
The smell of fresh air, a self I can share
Who knows what adventures are waiting out there
For a wandering pilgrim soul?

The sky-house has landed
I see a creature step from the door
A stranger stranded
Grasping-handed
Walking on two legs, not four
And with only one body, not more!

But now I can see soldiers hemming it 'round
I would almost charge into the fray
Not to miss this chance meeting I only just found
Even knowing my selves may not all last the day

Now, well you might ask if I'm out of my mind
Though I notice you following not far behind
I do feel as much kinship as with my own kind
To these pilgrims from so far away

Today I'm Wic, Kwik, Rac and Rum
But selves come and go -- we change and we grow --
And set out in search of new people to know
And new people to become

And, as the centuries roll
Though my selves be replaced, voice by voice, face by face
Through them all runs one ribbon of yearning and grace --
A wandering pilgrim soul