I’ve been a fan of the band Genesis for many years, especially during the Peter Gabriel years. I’m indebted to my old college buddy Ken for educating me to the deeper things of Genesis when we were in our 20s and were both drawn to ‘prog’ rock bands like Rush, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, et al.

Genesis has a song with the title “Watcher of the Skies.” In Idaho, I find myself watching the skies constantly. The weather patterns seem to change both rapidly and constantly, and I’m often gazing at the skies and the mountains underneath as if answers are forthcoming if I’ll just attend. When the clouds move over the mountains, the sunlight that gets through makes it appear that the earth is a conveyor belt of images.

In the Genesis song, the lyrics run like this:

Watcher of the skies, watcher of all
His is a world alone, no world is his own
He whom life can no longer surprise
Raising his eyes, beholds a planet unknown

Creatures shaped this planet’s soil
Now their reign has come to end
Has life again destroyed life?
Do they play elsewhere?
Do they know more than their childhood games?

Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures
When they are dead?
For now, the lizard’s shed its tail
This is the end of man’s long union with Earth

From life alone to life as one
Think not now your journey’s done
For though your ship be sturdy
No mercy has the sea
Will you survive on the ocean of being?
Come ancient children, hear what I say
This is my parting counsel for you on your way

Sadly now, your thoughts turn to the stars
Where we’ve gone
You know you never can go
Watcher of the skies, watcher of all
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own

On your own, your own
On your own, your own

Gabriel and the fellows from Genesis are all Brits, and I’ve no idea of the context of the song’s genesis (I could not resist the pun), but when I find myself gazing around me and up at the skies, then down at the visual patterns that slide, shift, morph, and move, one could do worse things than be a watcher of these mysterious skies.