Blog Archives
Each Day Is Valentine’s Day
A way back I was given the “Versatile Blogger” Award and I thought is was about time I made good on that claim. So here’s some music to listen to. It’s another one of those “Damn, I wish I’d written that” poems/songs. You have to agree these two were masters. A wonderful interpretation too. Both Nico and trumpet player Ian Carr have passed away also, but fortunately for us they made this recording before they travelled on. It’s best to open the link in a fresh tag then return here to read the words.
MY FUNNY VALENTINE – Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
My funny valentine
Sweet comic Valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable, unphotographable
Yet you’re my favourite work of art
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak, are you smart?
But don’t change your hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay, little Valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine’s Day
Wednesday (A Quick Know)
WEDNESDAY (A QUICK KNOW)
……………………………………………………………….For Jenny
The bell of the alarm clock
Says, “Here it is.”
The birds beyond the window
Say, “Know.”
But what can I do?
I don’t know what to do.
Here is all nobility;
Here is all shame.
The tears that fall
Say, “Here it is.”
The tears in between
Say, “Know.”
Absence
ABSENCE
It’s fine to see here on this warm October day
The orange of maize heads drying on that roof
Reflecting in the marigolds below
To sit among the rocks and read
Watching butterflies hover in the sun
But missing is the smell of new mown grass
That scents the air of far off England’s summer
Ad Infinitum
AD INFINITUM
’twas I
was’t not?
set I
set sun
set seed
set growth
set bud
set flower
set eye
alert
set beauty
and
set heart
a-flutter
set a-wooing
set seed
set son
set growth
set scene
set seen …
…’twas I
was’t not?
set I …
(ad infinitum)
——————————————————————
This poem was inspired by Jackie Blair McSween’s painting “Solar Blossom”
Judgement
JUDGEMENT
Whatever I did today
Was it of any use?
And to whom?
Perhaps for a moment I had
A moment of simple beauty
Of silence undisturbed
If only they weren’t
All so busy doing
Something they found useful
Would I improve things
Change everything
By sharing?
Not a bad idea
As ideas go
But they do
And besides
It’s attitudes not circumstances
That create events
And all those useful things
They were doing
Instead
In an eyeblink
All this distraction
Is already so perfect
Just so
A Breath Of Summer
This is a New Year’s gift. Probably especially appropriate for those of us who are in the middle of a Northern Hemispheric Winter and may in need of some warmth and comfort. This is a special favourite of mine, sadly far too little known or appreciated. And even if it’s warm and Summery where you are, it’s still a very beautiful piece of music to drift away on.
Have a wonderful 2012 and thanks for frequenting my e-log. 
Big Day Today
Today is our 25th Anniversary.
She made me a wonderful card.
Neither picture fully captures its splendour, sadly. But in the real world and in the daylight …
It was also she who introduced me to Laura Marling.
I did think, briefly, about a poem, but it would be beyond me, I fear, to convey the whole of what I would want to express. And besides, Calliope is nearly as insecure as I am; or is it the other way round?
John Martyn (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009)
JOHN MARTYN
He is another
Who moves
Restlessly
Forward
Still
Knowing that no direction
Is
As we
Who live to live
Another day
And listen
