What is the nuance when は directly follows a verb in plain form?

Question

It seems like this is a remnant of (or reference to) older forms of Japanese. Is that all there is to it, or does it have special meaning? Examples from songs: >歌声　笑い声　満ちる大空　目指すは憧れ (DuDiDuWa*lalala - KOTOKO) >吹きやまぬは残り風 [...] >巡りゆくはこの心 (残り風 - いきものがかり) And lastly, the same with が: (At least I _suspect_ that it's not the "but" kind of が. Feels like the subject particle for some reason.) >巡り逢ったが　運の尽き (刀と鞘 - ALI PROJECT)

Answer 1

Basically, in sentence form for in song form, Japanese people do often use the plain form with a "ha/wa" after to describe said verb.

I would say the similarity of this would be a gerund.

Hasami to nigeru "wa" abunai

would similarly translate to

Running with scissors is dangerous

Normally, "ga" at the end of verbs is like a "but," and has a negative connotation, but in the lyrical case, it may be like a dangling participle of the subject, object, or gerund.

The lyrics here is using "ga" as a "but," as she went around, but her luck is gone.