I recently rewatched an HBO limited series called “The Leftovers“, which chronicles the lives of folks from the towns of Mapleton, NY, and Miracle, TX, in the aftermath of a rapture-like event in which 2% of the world’s population departs instantly and without explanation.
It’s a character-driven show based on the Tom Perrotta novel of the same name, focusing on how people cope with devastating, inexplicable trauma and the grief that follows. The performances, especially Carrie Coon’s portrayal of Nora Durst (a woman who loses her husband and two children to “The Departure”), are fantastic.
The show inspired me to write “Mapleton or Miracle,” which I set to music using Suno, an AI-powered music-generation platform.
I’ll be uploading the song to streaming services in the next week or two, but you can listen to it on Suno today.
Mapleton or Mircale – By Sapient Rain
The living-dead in Mapleton
Are catatonic in their grief
All they see is what is gone
The Departure was a thief
We gaze at pastor charlatans
On the cable TV stations
Gucci suits with microphones
taking money for salvation
They drive away in Cadillacs
To glass mansions on the hill
While congregants in pickup trucks
Have no cash to pay their bills
Whether Mapleton or Miracle
Our grief is sure to follow
Our prose becomes less lyrical
Our souls become more hollow
Our souls become more hollow
When all we see is what is gone
our pain shifts into grief
he lost, forsaken, and forlorn
live in dreams for their relief
On bended knees
in whispered pleas
chanting hallowed be thy name
from caves to trees and galaxies
we bathe in guilt and shame
Some curry favor with their God
By reading from his book
Their situation never changes
Because God’s a thoughtless crook
Whether Mapleton or Miracle
Our grief is sure to follow
Our prose becomes less lyrical
Our souls become more hollow
Our souls become more hollow
With rolled-up truths of paper pills
stored in time-worn wooden boxes
we sit at sun-splashed window sills
and mumble at the paradoxes
The Departure was a soul suck
A trauma unexplained
We looked to faith for answers
All we found was grief and pain
Whether Mapleton or Miracle
Our grief is sure to follow
Our prose becomes less lyrical
Our souls become more hollow
Our souls become more hollow
Sapient Rain is best categorized as a human–AI hybrid musical project — specifically, a lyric‑driven, politically charged, genre‑fluid collaboration between writer/lyricist Geoffrey Reilly and the AI music engine Suno.
For a free listen, check out the library of publicly available Sapient Rain tracks on Suno.
bendingtheneedle 