I’m in grade 11 in Houston, Texas, when my English teacher introduces the class to Scarborough Fair not the pop version, but the original Middle English ballad. I had heard the song many times before, but now I was learning its origins and its story. Even today, I realize I rarely know the full meaning of most songs I’m drawn more to the melodies than the words.
Scarborough Fair tells the tale of a young man who instructs the listener to relay impossible tasks to his former love: make a shirt without a seam, find an acre of land between the sea and the shore. If she completes these impossible feats, he promises to take her back.
To me, the song is about more than lost love –it’s about life’s impossible challenges. It reminds us that perseverance and creativity can overcome obstacles we once thought insurmountable. And even now, when I hear it, I think less about romance and more about striving, about patience, and about finding beauty in the challenge itself.
