Blog Archives

Attention

Jul 7

Posted by Ben Naga

ATTENTION

Seeking silence found
Outside, inside, not silence
But music instead

Posted in Poetry, Senryu

Sugar For Salt

Jun 19

Posted by Ben Naga

SUGAR FOR SALT

May you ever travel peacefully
And with worthy companions
Be sure never to let your fear
Seed hatred toward others
May you ever travel peacefully
And with worthy companions

May you ever travel peacefully
And with worthy companions
If you’re not part of the solution
Then you’re part of the problem
May you ever travel peacefully
And with worthy companions

~~~~~~~~~~~

Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)

Crash on the levee, mama
Water’s gonna overflow
Swamp’s gonna rise
No boat’s gonna row
Now, you can train on down
To Williams Point
You can bust your feet
You can rock this joint
But oh mama, ain’t you gonna miss your best friend now?
You’re gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow

Now, don’t you try an’ move me
You’re just gonna lose
There’s a crash on the levee
And, mama, you’ve been refused
Well, it’s sugar for sugar
And salt for salt
If you go down in the flood
It’s gonna be your own fault
Oh mama, ain’t you gonna miss your best friend now?
You’re gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow

Well, that high tide’s risin’
Mama, don’t you let me down
Pack up your suitcase
Mama, don’t you make a sound
Now, it’s king for king
Queen for queen
It’s gonna be the meanest flood
That anybody’s seen
Oh mama, ain’t you gonna miss your best friend now?
Yes, you’re gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow

Posted in Poetry

4 Comments

Tags: Activism, Bob Dylan, Companionship, Fear, Hatred, Life, Music, Peace, Relationships, Revolution, Songs

Dover Beach

Feb 28

Posted by Ben Naga

DOVER BEACH – Matthew Arnold (Published 1867)

The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

DOVER BEACH – The Fugs (Released 1967)

Posted in Music, Poem - Not Written By Me Though, Poetry

6 Comments

Tags: Beauty, Help, History, Homage, Ignorance, Joy, Life, Love, Music, Pain, Peace, Poetry, Uncertainty

Spanish Lady

Jan 18

Posted by Ben Naga

Inexplicably underrated is this wonderful live performance from alto saxophonist John Handy and his group from the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival.The leading critic Ralph J. Gleason wrote. “It’s an exciting group and one that will make jazz history”. Sadly his prediction has yet to be realised. But then it’s not too late. If you are taken with this piece then you can also find another recording from the same performance and album, “If Only We Knew” on YouTube. Enjoy, music lovers. 🙂