Fathersong II. For Gina Sarina

The two-fold strength that joins in loving union . . .

As another year draws to its close, we once again celebrate Christmas together as a family and - for the adults of our household - continue with the well-established tradition of exchanging representations of each other rather than purchasing gifts.

Fathersong II is my Christmas offering to our older daughter Gina. It poetically reflects on the extraordinary privilege of both participating in the arrival, growth and maturation of a beloved daughter, and of witnessing the arrival of another generation as our own children enter into parenthood.




Fathersong II. For Gina Sarina can be streamed using the media player above. A CD quality mp3 file can be downloaded here.

The precious caul so prized by ancient mariners. . .

THE POEM

Fathersong II
For Gina Sarina

And then they came, descending slowly
The silent snows, heralds of heaven’s purity,

Soft sighs whispering their long-held welcome.
Within, you dreamed in warm and windless waters.
The waves arose, edging you closer to our world.
Your sail, soft shield against time’s hidden storms,
The precious caul so prized by ancient mariners,
Held well all through the strongly growing tide.

The morning light soft-touched your filmy face
Skilled fingers reached beneath your cherub chin
To raise the lucent veil, release the stream
Of living water by which you travelled here.
Soon came the smile, followed by the laughter,
The step that turned in time into a dance
That joyous whirled all through our waiting lives.
All these and more declared your soul’s vivacity.

Reaching to the life outstretched before you
You gathered feathers, twigs and shiny stones
All as friends, conversing one with the other.
And then came horses, firmly held and led,
Your gentle strength unawed by fire or size
While in your room, the heroes of the day,
Early lights that rose then fell within a breath
Pranced upon the walls, contending for attention.

What is it that endures, transcends all time
Beyond the transformations of the child?
Wherefrom the threads that draw us to our other
The two-fold strength that joins in loving union
That brings new life in to our waiting world?
Each new birth a gift of love repeated,
A mystic turning of the open page,
A tender touch beyond all comprehension.

Your wide and patient travels gave you strength
And openness to all that life accords.
Your heart has drawn the many to your side
To bathe in kindly light and breath of joy.
Your love is of the sun that freely shines
To warm and comfort all within its field.
For long the sons of heaven we have known
But now we see the daughters’ days begin.

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1. Fathersong I. For Sofia Celestia

Fathersong I is my Christmas 2017 offering to our younger daughter, Sofia. It offers a poetic account of her remarkable entry into our lives on a star-filled night three decades ago, and is a celebration of her strength and courage in the face of life's unexpected visitations.

2. A Song for Emily

A Song for Emily was written and performed as my Christmas 2018 offering for Emily, our beloved daughter-in-law and mother of three of our beautiful grandchildren.

A Song for Emily

Liminal Reflections

The tapestry of family is woven slowly. Each new arrival brings her or his unique and unrepeatable essence to the play of light and dark, of smooth and rough, of defined and vague that progressively finds expression through the years, through the decades.

The tapestry of family broadens as each child in turn conjoins with their own beloved and the weave widens to encompass interpenetrating stories, interpenetrating lives by which each individual's experience is further nourished and enriched.

The tapestry of family reflects an endless generational renewal whereby our love continuously extends beyond itself to embrace, to welcome and to share in ever-widening circles of relationship.

As a family, the adults in our household have in recent years prepared and exchanged artful representations of each other - rather than purchasing gifts - when we gather together to celebrate Christmas. These have included drawings, collages, sculpture, music and poetry. A Song for Emily was written and performed as my Christmas 2018 offering for Emily, our beloved daughter-in-law and mother of three of our beautiful grandchildren.

 

A Song for Emily can be streamed using the media player above. A CD quality mp3 file can be downloaded here.

Production Notes

Music
Doxent Zsigmond: Path of Glass
Nico Di Stefano:   Viaggio
(Remix: VDS)

THE POEM

A Song for Emily

When first you came into our lively lives
'Twas through the son who brightened by degrees
The muse of patterned sound and sounding harmonies.
Your eye was sharp and fine and imaged well
The fading shades well-veiled within the light,
The hidden life behind the outer form,
The artful beauty of a flashing glance,
The moment caught, revealed within the frame.

A bold departing drew you further on
Full at the wheel towards the northern skies
Among companions dear, and newly won
In fields of sound, and growing sympathies
Within a time of freedom and reprieve.
As two together joined in love make three
So too in time your family was to grow
On your return to more familiar ground.

The house beside the sea now left behind
A new abode in midst of forest airs,
Of many rooms and energies endowed
Where friends by night and day would gather, partake
In time together, cheered by bread and wine.
But every flock when nesting time begins
Disperses and divides in ones and twos
To find a home where two may come to three.

The soft and warming waters welcome gave
To one, then two, then three, now family fair.
And days and nights once free and unrestrained
Turned then to newer sounds and newer needs -
Though all in truth more ancient than the songs
Long sung in soft and lilting lullabies
To sooth the cry, to comfort and to hold
The precious love each new arrival brings.

The odyssey of love no soul may tell
Nor fathom its extremes, its secret depths,
Its promised joys, its hidden tests and stress,
Its call for mother's glow, for father's strength.
The ways of love will carry us beyond
All unexpected hopes and silent tears
To reach at last the treasure hidden still
Within the well of time, and family.

RELATED POSTS

1. Fathersong. For Sofia Celestia


Fathersong is my Christmas 2017 offering to our younger daughter, Sofia. It offers a poetic account of her remarkable entry into our lives on a star-filled night three decades ago, and is a celebration of her strength and courage in the face of life's unexpected visitations.

2. After the Tempest (Finding Family)


This short poem builds on a personal reflection on the nature of enduring relationship during a time characterised by the prevalence of divided households.

The poem carries an acknowledgement of the tensions and the difficulties that inevitably arise within the context of marriage while also giving voice to the deeper treasures that can emerge in the living out of a sustained commitment to another.