Saturday, 23 July 2011

Lyrical Sunday Week 25 - Musical Instruments


This week's Lyrical Sunday is a little early as the inspiration bug bit me in the butt this morning. Apologies if this post is too long. But there is some pretty music to listen to if you persevere.

If - for C
If,
I could, I would.
If,
I would, I could.
But,
I can't, I shan't.
But,
I shan't, I can't.
See,
I have no rhythm.
See.
No. I have rhythm
Some.
Alas,
it is not enough
To beat a drum.


Play the music while you read the next one as the poem is long :)



My love of Moonlight



Early, early Saturday it would begin

A crashing melody would wake me.

Wake the whole neighbourhood, it seemed.



You began with scales -

Up and down, down and up,

Faster and faster, warming to the keys.



Then it would start anew.

The music would move -

repeat, error, repeat, improve.



You nursed the melody,

You tended the rhythm,

You filled the house with sound.



Emotions, surrounded me,

Within the in-between twilight of waking,

Beethoven filled my dreams.



The Moonlight Sonata serenaded me

Reminding me of another pianist,

Another life almost lived, the path not chosen.



That time, of fleeting hope and shelter,

Etched in my heart, my melody

Of friendship and platonic love.



Those memories were renewed,

Layered with newly adult experiences

And honoured with a fresh voice.



Rachmaninoff coloured my new life

During those early months of marriage;

The months I had never envisioned -



A foreign country, a shared home

Not the idyllic start to our own life

A temporary home, loved, but not ours



Your music filled it, creating memories

Lifting the grey, reminding me of the sun

I had seemingly left behind forever



Oh, we teased you, as was expected,

Complaining of losing lie-ins to your passion

Often forgetting to thank you for the music.



Forgetting, even now, to thank you,

For the memories of early married life in Buckinghamshire

So easily evoked by a haunting refrain



Heard subtly, passing by a gallery,

In the soundtrack of my present life

Your music features still.



And you may never know

How much that means to me.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my! This is so beautiful! I am going back for another read...

    Absolutely adore your poetry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a lovely poem....
    And I had no idea. I'm grateful that the essence and power of these composers and the passion with which their masterpieces were performed have affected you in such a way. To any musician this is a great compliment, so thank you.

    There's so much more to the music than the notes we hear and read. I'd like to impart my greatest musical influence on to you in the hopes that, like me, you will spend many years of your life discovering then rediscovering and reinterpreting it's meaning. -> Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.3 in D Minor. All three movements are incredible and utterly complex with emotions; I'm not ashamed to admit that to this day the second movement still brings a tear to my eye.

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Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I try to reply to as many as I can either here or by email. <3 LJx