World Before Columbus

My drawing of this song surprised me; I thought it would be of a person, the person the song is being written for. (“Those men who lust for land and for riches strange and new, who love those trinkets of desire; oh, they never will have you. And they’ll never know the gold or the copper in your hair. How could they weigh the worth of you so rare?”) Instead, it became more abstract. There is a locked heart with a flat world map on it, symbolizing the inability to love with such a provincial view of the world. Outside of that world, there is still quite a lot. The wiggly lines around outside the heart represent the unknown, and there are trees and also a stack of gold and a stack of silver to show the riches. Of course, these are the only kind of riches that some people understand; the trees are also riches.

World Before Columbus–lyrics

If your love were taken from me
Every color would be black and white
It would be as flat as the world before Columbus
That’s the day that I lose half my sight
If your life were taken from me
All the trees would freeze in this cold ground
It would be as cruel as the world before Columbus
Sail to the edge and I’d be there looking down
Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they never will have you
And they’ll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare
If your love were taken from me
Every light that’s bright would soon go dim
It would be as dark as the world before Columbus
Down the waterfall and I’d swim over the brim
Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they will never have you
And they’ll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare