Mariah Carey - This Could Be The Dawning Of That Day / Until Then (Medley) Lyrics

Video

One Sweet Day - Boyz II Men (Feat. Mariah Carey) (Lyrics) 🎵

Meaning & Inspiration

I sat down with these lyrics by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, and I have to be honest—I found myself scratching my head. I looked at the prompt, then I looked at the words provided, and they simply don't match.

The lyrics you’ve pasted are not from "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. That song—a radio staple from my later years—is about the ache of losing a loved one and the hope of meeting them on the other side. It’s a secular ballad about grief.

However, the lyrics you provided below the artist credit are clearly from a different song entirely, one that speaks of Calvary, the coronation of a King, and the dawning of a glorious morning.

If we are talking about the words provided—that specific text about being a pilgrim not bound by shackles of earthly gold—my old hands feel a familiar pull. There is a line that stops me cold: “Nothing here holds their allegiance / They’re not bound by shackles forged of earthly gold.”

When you’re young, you think your allegiance is something you can manage, something you can balance between your ambitions and your faith. But after forty years, you realize those shackles are heavy. We spent so much time polishing our reputations, building our little kingdoms, and worrying about what the neighbors thought of our pews. It takes a lifetime to realize that none of that gold buys a single minute of peace when the sun starts to set on your own life.

The Scripture says in 1 Peter 2:11 to live as foreigners and exiles. It’s easy to say that when you’re thirty, but it’s a hard truth to swallow when you’re seventy-five and you’ve grown fond of the furniture in your living room. The lyric says the saints are "restless." I think about my friends who have passed on—the ones whose hands are no longer weathered, but resting. They aren't restless anymore. They found that "place to rest their souls."

I suppose the tension is here: Do I really believe this is the dawning? Or am I just reciting lines from a song because I’m afraid of the dark?

There are nights when the house is quiet and the shadow on the wall looks like an old man I don't quite recognize. I look at my hymnal, dog-eared and stained with coffee, and I wonder if I’ve spent my life truly looking for His face, or just distracting myself until the end. These words offer a comfort that isn't loud or flashy; they offer a reminder that this world was never meant to be the final chapter. Whether this is the dawning or just another long night, I suppose the only thing left to do is keep singing until the light actually breaks.