'Spring and Fall, to a Young Child'

'Spring and Fall, to a Young Child'

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

     -- Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

(I think I am on a bit of a poetry appreciation kick. i think I should read more. I love this one and have for some time, because I identify with it so deeply. I have to check my motives when I am sad to see if I am merely mourning for myself and oh so often I am.)

i thank You God

e. e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Thank you Albert.

I don't pretend to understand the universe - it's much bigger than I am. -Albert Einstein

Too Happy

This blog was too happy not to post. A Print A Day has won me over today. I am a fan.
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/
Some of you are thinking... "ok.. so what am I supposed to do with this?" WELL. If you are smart you can view these to-do list downloads in light of the massive amount of scrap one sided printer paper that is chillin' near your desk. OR jsut think of that huge student print account that you NEVER use! FAB-O. And just for a little eye candy... check out this cute creation--


MMmmm Mmm Mmmmm.
Love it.

Both And

Check out the blog we put up together... not to mention you should come to my show :)

http://kittermansdc.blogspot.com/

i think we'll be posting more things we are doing in general rather than specific thoughts... but hey :) super cool.

How can I Keep From Singing?

Words: Robert Lowry, 1860.

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of Heav’n and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His—
How can I keep from singing?

Sur-e-ly

It is amazing to me just how much scripture i have learned from singing over the years. It is my absolute FAVORITE way of learning text. I miss choral singing a lot, but what truly amazes about the situation is that I think about these songs allllllllll the time.
I have been a little down-trodden recently and bits of Part 2 of the Messiah keep coming into my brain. Specifically the part taken from this scripture:

Isaiah 53:3-5 (King James Version)

King James Version (KJV)

3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

I pulled it from KJV because that is the closest to what Handel uses. Plus, I realized that the KJV is what most of the scripture I have memorized through choral singing comes from... it is so poetically arranged already.
I just really like choral classical music. I like a lot of other things too... but there will always be a super special place in my hear for that music no matter what. It gives me a lot of hope and i feel as if I am part of the communion of saints when i am part of choral singing... or even when i just enjoy it.

We went to go see a reading of Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's new book Jesus for President the other night and the presentation was fantastic. It was a multi-sensory event and I really enjoyed it. I have other thoughts on this subject and maybe I will put those here at another date and time. During the singing I recognized so many old hymns and was completely blown away by how much I knew just by listening as they were including gospel songs.
hmmm.
I wish I could remember the one that we sang that i realized was so familiar.
B