Douglas Traherne Harding

Song Meaning

The lyrics present a striking, almost mystical, birth narrative: "When I was born I had no head." This isn't a literal description but suggests a state of pure, unformed consciousness, "filled with light." The narrator experiences a profound unity, where "the light that I was was the light that I saw by." This initial state is one of effortless connection and perception, captured by the recurring refrain, "One light, light that is one though the lamps be many." This initial bliss is contrasted with a later encounter on the "river." The narrator once crossed freely, "needed no ferryman," and "enjoyed the world aright." However, a shift occurs with the appearance of a "tollman with an angry face." The narrator now has to "pay no silver and paid no fee" by hiding possessions, feeling "cold" and "no crown." This suggests a loss of that initial, unburdened state, replaced by a more complicated, perhaps fearful, engagement with the world and its demands. The lyrics then introduce a figure "who has no head" but whose "eye is single and his whole body also is filled with light," echoing the narrator's own birth experience. This figure is presented as a guide or embodiment of that original state, capable of walking "all among you" and seeing the "tollman and the ferryman" not as obstacles, but as reflections of himself. The light within him "leaps to greet them," signifying an integration and acceptance of all aspects of existence, even the seemingly adversarial. The ultimate message seems to be a call to reclaim that primal state of unity. The final lines, "You never enjoy the world aright / Till the sea itself floweth / In your veins till you are clothed / With the heavens and crowned with the stars," urge a return to a perception where the self and the world are indistinguishable, a state of being where external barriers dissolve and one is fully integrated with the cosmos.