Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Piper's Gift

Flame in the wind
Entwined by night,
The hills beyond shadowy panes,
A flickering gaze
The failing light
Beholds a gathering rain.

Yet, in the dark,
Enchantments green
A forest embraces the trees.
And faintly descends
The salty seed
of misty, thundering seas.

Listen. Be still.
A distant voice
With curious harmonies weaves
Like memories weep
From broken sleep
The piper laughs while he grieves.

21 comments:

Terri said...

Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

The first comment comes from Ireland!! How fitting! Thanks Terri. :)

Unknown said...

I love it!

Bernita said...

"The Great Gaels of Ireland
Are then men that God made mad
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad."
G.K. Chesterson

Thank you, Jason.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Jason, that's one of my favorites of your poems. =)

Anonymous said...

Robin, :)

Bernita, that's a beautiful verse from G.K. Chesterson. I knew you would understand the sentiment.

Kelly, thank you! I put extra effort into this one.

Jeff said...

jason- well done :)

anne frasier said...

beautiful, jason.

mermaid said...

Lyrical and natural. I can see you rolling the words off you tongue before you even composed them in your mind.

Anonymous said...

This is one of your best pix... Beautiful... All of it!

Anonymous said...

Jeff, I appreciate it!

Anne, thanks!

Mermaid, I do enjoy the flow of language. And I always value your poetic eye.

Farzad, are there any particularly solemn musical instruments in Persian culture? Just curious.

Anonymous said...

Dude...this was awesome, as usual! I LOVE reading your work, man. It's dark, but has a certain "light" to it.

Bernita said...

Jason, when your images and rhythms evoke echos of other interpreters, you may be sure you have touched the essence of music.
I very much like your choice of rhyme and meter in this.

Anonymous said...

Allen, what a great description! I'm going to have to save that one.

Bernita
and Forgottenmachine, I actually create a meter for each poem by humming it without words first. That's probably why they have a lyrical feel to them.

Bunneh, thank you! I was inspired to write it when I saw that amazing monument in the picture.

mysfit said...

lovely and i dig the title (and that another commentor quoted G.K. chesterton - and so i feel i must follow suit)

Now, there is a law written in the darkest of the Books of Life, and it is this: If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times,
you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time.
- G.K. Chesterton; "The Napoleon of Notting Hill"

Anonymous said...

Oh yea... these are some of the major ones:

TAR
SETAR
BARBAT (UD, OUD)
KAMANCHEH (KAMANCHE)
GHEYCHAK
SANTOOR (SANTUR, SANTOUR)
GHANOON
NEY
TONBAK
DAF

Anonymous said...

Mysfit, thanks for the visit, and thanks for the quote! Very true. Chesterton wove amazing insights.

Farzad, I looked up pictures of several of those instruments. Now I have to look for a sound file of the Ney. Thank you!

Joanne said...

Very nice, Jason!

Shesawriter said...

It just keeps getting better and better, my friend. WOW.

Tanya

Mary Louisa said...

Jason, great work, as usual.

I have tagged you on my blog for a book meme. Hope you have a minute...

Anonymous said...

Joanne, thanks! How have things been with you?

Tanya, glad you're back from hiatus. We missed you!

Sarah, welcome! I love to see new commenters. The last line hit me out of the blue. I thought it was a fair description of the character of bagpipes.

Mary Louisa, sorry I've been away for a couple of days. I'll get right on that meme! (Kelly tagged me too.)