Journey

When I read this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Journey," I instantly got a Sting song in my head. "The Book of my Life" is a song about Sting's struggle in dealing with his memories while writing his fantastic autobiography, Broken Music.  (I highly recommend it!) I'm not quite sure how to draw life's journey, so I moved on to "Secret Journey," a song he wrote with The Police in the early '80s. Even more abstract, this song is about discovering your path in life, becoming a wiser, older soul, and ultimately achieving peace.

While I was contemplating these big ideas, I overheard Gordon, who was still telling The Kitties about his recent trek through the Sahara Desert. So, I moved on to another song called, "Tea in the Sahara."

Inspired by a story by Paul Bowles called The Sheltering Sky, Sting wrote "Tea in the Sahara" with The Police, and it ended up on their last album, Synchronicity, in 1983. (He still sings it often these days.)

Although I haven't read The Sheltering Sky yet, I can guess what it's about from Sting's song. Three sisters meet this guy, and they try their best to make him happy. In return, they ask him to meet them in The Sahara Desert for tea. He promises that he will join them, and they wait and wait and wait.

Sting says that this story ends tragically, but Gordon disputes that claim.

On the contrary, he ran into the sisters last week. They were all fine--and thrilled to have company. 

But the tea, he says, was really, really strong. 

(Illustration Friday: April 15, 2011)