The 7th song of Metaphysics shares a title with a Taylor Swift song off of her 2012 album Red. Swift’s “Holy Ground” covers much of the same territory as Slean does in most of her work, not surprising since they share a common thematic: an exploration of love and relationships as a ground to search and seek meanings for other aspects of existence.

Swift’s “Holy Ground” is a “reminiscence” from the past about the early period in a new relationship, “back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme.” The title comes from the chorus, “and right there where we stood/was holy ground.” The Swift song looks at this relationship long after it had ended, and the singer is able to see the beauty in the moments – even calling them holy – despite the relationship not working out.

This is striking because Sarah Slean tackled the power and seductiveness of early romance in several songs by the time of her 2017 album. “Duncan” from Night Bugs is arguably an anthem about the very topic; its chorus,

“This is holy war!
We must fight and fight again
And go a thousand times for the sake of love
But never once in vain”

is arguably a manifesto of some of her earlier work.

However, by Metaphysics, Slean was hunting bigger game. While her “Holy Ground” is also about love, the song is about the divinity of humanity, something that is established by humanity’s ability to love. For Slean, our ability to love makes us divine, something you can interpret from various religious perspectives, and “Holy Ground” is possibly her clearest statement on this theme.

“Where the only kingdom is/And the kingdom is.” The beggar and the king are not looking for God or money (although they might believe they are); they are looking for love and community, the ways we, as human, can reach divinity.