Once upon a time, I met a poem that made my whole self light up. I loved it the first time I encountered it in high school and have loved it ever since. It was the one reading Nick and I had at our wedding. It was a poem that called for music when I started creating little snippets of my own songs about ten years ago. I set it to music in the midst of a period of great growth in my life. Then Nick's cancer and being dementia caregiver slammed the previous contented time to smithereens, and I wondered if I would ever sing my songs again - let alone sing a song that is filled with as much joy and whole-heartedness as this is for me. I'm glad to be able to say that as singing has crept back into my days in the past year or two, this song came back, too. I recorded a viola solo version to do the melody full justice (my voice is not trained, which is description not judgement) and a version of me singing it (because the melody is not enough without the words). I've copied the poem below so you can be sure of the words.
|
| ||||
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 of 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)
e.e. cummings
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 of 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)
e.e. cummings