Our Lives by Minnie Riperton
“Any day now can’t you see
You’ll be coming back to me
Comin’ back to where you wanna be
And the time that you’ve been gone
Will vanish like the song
Sung by the rain when we were fast asleep
And our days will be filled by the light of children’s laughter
All our nights will be touched by the glow of lover’s songs
Side by side in the sun we will build the world we’re after
Side by side we will lie when the day’s good work is done
Any day now can’t you see
You’ll be sitin’ here by me
Laughing at the fools we used to be
And the things that we’ve done wrong
Will be now dead and gone
Buried out beneath our apple tree….”
In Chang Rae Lee’s “On Such a Full Sea”, young diver Fan ventures beyond the security of B-Mor to seek out her disappeared boyfriend, Reg.
Throughout the first few chapters, the character of Fan is pieced together by scant memories, gossip, and speculations. The idea of Fan begins as the whispers of a legend, and Lee poses grand statements and observations that allow us to steadily question the reliability of the narrator’s knowledge. When Reg disappears, it occurs so quickly and delicately enough that Fan, and the reader themselves, come to rely on word of mouth / traces of Reg in the surveilled landscape/surroundings.
Fan retains strong hope for finding Reg throughout her journey— she keeps images close, reminding herself of her purpose to find a love that was lost. In a similar way, “Our Lives” feels like a self-reminder of sorts: using visualizations, memories, and reflections that haven’t happened yet. Fan regularly reminisces on her innocent past with Reg, but she also desperately longs for the late future, and the world around her also obsess over their fate — “and the time that you’ve been gone / will vanish like the song…Side by side in the sun we will build the world we’re after”