.jpg)
This month's show focused on the theme of nature. I chose songs and poetry that were loosely based on all things in the natural world including trees, plants, landscapes and animals, especially birds! I got a bit obsessed with bird calls and how singers and instruments try to mimic birdsong. Anyway... here are some of the readings you heard.
The Rose Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker
Best and dearest flower that grows,
Perfect both to see and smell;
Words can never, never tell
Half the beauty of a Rose—
Buds that open to disclose
Fold on fold of purest white,
Lovely pink, or red that glows
Deep, sweet-scented.
What delight
To be Fairy of the Rose!
I just really like roses and these cute poems from when I was young! I can imagine this being used in a flower ritual in a wedding ceremony though. Or maybe at a Naming!
Wings of a Dove by Henry Van Dyke
I
At sunset, when the rosy light was dying
Far down the pathway of the west,
I saw a lonely dove in silence flying,
To be at rest.
Pilgrim of air, I cried, could I but borrow
Thy wandering wings, thy freedom blest,
I'd fly away from every careful sorrow,
And find my rest.
II
But when the filmy veil of dusk was falling,
Home flew the dove to seek his nest,
Deep in the forest where his mate was calling
To love and rest.
Peace, heart of mine! no longer sigh to wander;
Lose not thy life in barren quest.
There are no happy islands over yonder;
Come home and rest.
The idea that freedom is what people enjoy when actually home and feeling safe is just as valuable. Perhaps in reality they are the same thing, but I like the way this poem subverts those ideas.
Bird-Understander BY Craig Arnold
Of many reasons I love you here is one
the way you write me from the gate at the airport
so I can tell you everything will be alright
so you can tell me there is a bird
trapped in the terminal all the people
ignoring it because they do not know
what to do with it except to leave it alone
until it scares itself to death
it makes you terribly terribly sad
You wish you could take the bird outside
and set it free or (failing that)
call a bird-understander
to come help the bird
All you can do is notice the bird
and feel for the bird and write
to tell me how language feels
impossibly useless
but you are wrong
You are a bird-understander
better than I could ever be
who make so many noises
and call them song
These are your own words
your way of noticing
and saying plainly
of not turning away
from hurt
you have offered them
to me I am only
giving them back
if only I could show you
how very useless
they are not
People who have been together a long time tend to have this other way of romance that is ever more subtle. I always used to be unbelieving when people would say they love their person more and more each day, but perhaps it is the different things you find to love about them that they mean. This poem speaks to the little crazy things people love about each other and how they really all come down to the core of who the person is, in this case, an empathetic, thoughtful person.
The Frog Prince by Stevie Smith
I am a frog
I live under a spell
I live at the bottom
Of a green well
And here I must wait
Until a maiden places me
On her royal pillow
And kisses me
In her father’s palace
The story is familiar
Everybody knows it well
But do other enchanted people feel as nervous
As I do? The stories do not tell,
As if they will be happier
When the changes come
As already they are fairly happy
In a frog’s doom?
I have been a frog now
For a hundred years
And in all this time
I have not shed many tears,
I am happy, I like the life,
Can swim for many a mile
(When I have hopped to the river)
And am forever agile.
But always when I think these thoughts
As I sit in my well
Another thought comes to me and says:
It is part of the spell
To be happy
To work up contentment
To make much of being a frog
To fear disenchantment
Says, It will be heavenly
To be set free,
Cries Heavenly the girl who disenchants
And the royal times, heavenly,
And I think it will be.
Come then, royal girl and royal times,
Come quickly,
I can be happy until you come
But I cannot be heavenly,
Only disenchanted people
Can be heavenly.
This one made me laugh a bit, especially because it's older than you might have imagined - Stevie Smith was mostly writing in the 1960s. I like the idea that actually you can be happy and content with your life and when you do fall in love, your life just gets even better!
You can listen back to this month's show on Mixcloud to hear all the fab song selections. Next month's show will link love and death to ritual and tradition. Listen live on Voices Radio 7am-9am Tuesday 13th February 2024.
Comments