Dès Vu: The Awareness That This Will Become A Memory

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ETYMOLOGY
From French dès vu, "seen as soon as" or "seen from this point forward." Like déjà vu, but in the reverse order—already remembering something as you're living it.

WHAT IS THAT MUSIC?
"The Bell Jar" by Aaron Peter Robinson & Justin John Shearn

TRANSCRIPT
You were born on a moving train.
And even though it feels like you're standing still,
time is sweeping past you, right where you sit.
But once in a while you look up,
and actually feel the inertia,
and watch as the present turns into a memory
—as if some future you is already looking back on it.

Dès Vu.

One day you’ll remember this moment,
and it’ll mean something very different.
Maybe you’ll cringe and laugh,
or brim with pride, aching to return.
or notice some detail hidden in the scene,
a future landmark making its first appearance
or discreetly taking its final bow.

So you try to sense it ahead of time, looking for clues,
as if you’re walking through the memory while it’s still happening,
feeling for all the world like a time traveler.

The world around you is secretly strange:
some details are charming and dated,
others precious and irretrievable,
but all fade into the quaint texture of the day.

You try to read the faces around you,
each fretting about the day’s concerns,
not yet realizing that this world is already out of their hands.
That it doesn’t have to be this way, it just sort of happened,
and everything will soon be completely different.

Because you really are a time traveler,
leaping into the future in little tentative steps.
Just a kid stuck in a strange land without a map,
With nothing to do but soak in the moment
and take one last look before moving on.

But another part of you is already an old man,
looking back on things.
Waiting at the door for his granddaughter,
who’s trying to make her way home for a visit.
You are two people still separated by an ocean of time,
Part of you bursting to talk about what you saw,
Part of you longing to tell you what it means.

CREDITS
Vimeo.com - Creative Commons Attribution License
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The Train by Clara Cullen https://vimeo.com/33404470
Train by Onn Halpern https://vimeo.com/51022270
70 Anos by Carlos Vieira https://vimeo.com/120715339
41st to 14th by Andrew Price https://vimeo.com/108307824
My 2012 by Matt Bowers https://vimeo.com/56944413
Neon: Short Film by Milan Gandhi https://vimeo.com/18168900
Memories of 2013 by Matt Johanning https://vimeo.com/83468495
Never Sleep by Colby Moore https://vimeo.com/106993739
The London Feeling by Davide Quatela https://vimeo.com/77505528
Memories in Moving Pictures 2012 by ER Alviz https://vimeo.com/57193728
Ben // Year One by Scott Svare https://t.co/bPg7M9hkkQ
M is for Memories by Ellise Pizer https://vimeo.com/78309654
Time for the Soul by Jasper Enujuba https://vimeo.com/112910338
Footprints by WeiJia https://vimeo.com/67930455
A Young Man by Clancy Morgan https://vimeo.com/102297130
Alaska by Jem Moore https://vimeo.com/132911734