Wind Serenade

The Springtime Cometh

Some soft chime had stroked the air; And though the sound had parted thence, 

Still left an echo in the sense. - Ben Jonson

Do all the talk and anxiety over the raging pandemic get you a little down?

Me, too.

My heart gets a little heavy.

My steps get a little slower.

So what can I do to kick away the sadness and gloom?

I keep thinking of spring who delights me with yet another gift to enliven my heart.

A wind serenade.

Light and calm, it emanates from this string of temple bells. It's a Mother's Day gift from First Daughter. 

I hang it on a tipped branch of the lilac tree shading the deck. The chime, inspired by ancient Chinese bells, works in harmony with the wind to create gentle, soothing tones.

There are orange-chested robins arguing in the trees beyond and the muffled hum and chatter of voices in the street but apart from that, the air is quiet and perfectly unspoiled. 

As if the world were holding its breath.

Beholden to the temple bells jingling a tune like some fairy announcement.

The sound is like a whisper.

A serenade of spring.

(To be continued)

Water Dance

The Springtime Cometh

The Springtime Cometh is the title of an E. Y. Harburg poem.

Look within. Within is the fountain of good,

and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig. - Marcus Aurelius

There comes a day when I have to break up with winter.

It’s usually somewhere around the middle of February when the snow days have lost their luster and the gray skies don’t look like they are ever going to cheer up and all the leafless trees look like they are auditioning for a part in an Alfred Hitchcock film.

By March, I'm fuming, Enough already.

That’s when I tell winter he has been a supercute date for the holidays and I really like mistletoe and carols and sleigh rides and he is totally hot in his all-white tux.

But now?

I’m over it.

There’s a new special someone in my life.

On this happy bright day, meet my spring. Let me tell you what he has brought along.

A water dance that can rinse away the troubles of the day.

From a bird bath and fountain right here on our deck. Don't you just love its antiqued verdigris finish? It's a Mother's Day gift from Second Daughter.

Like a penitent sinner in need of sanctification, I touch the splashing reservoir of water. It feels like silk. Smooth and warm bubbling past you. Full of life.

I sit close by on a splintery bench. The sun is bright, and it strikes everything evenly. The water flashes it back so blindingly that I close my eyes and just listen to the water tumbling onto the basin, droplets spilling on the floor. Its steady tinkle is soothing, the sound rhythmic, almost hypnotic.

And I begin to dream of water. And to think that the spirit is a fountain.

It pours out with an inexhaustible spray of ideas, but only as it continues to flow will more and clearer streams of water come.

(To be continued)

Shallow

Love, Sweet Love

This piece has been inspired by Shallow, Oscar winner for 'Best Original Song' in 2019. It is on the soundtrack album of A Star Is Born.

OMG.

Did you watch Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's performance of Shallow at the Oscars last year?

PLEASE SAY YOU DID.

The rendition was fascinating and moving. I couldn't even begin to tell you How.Perfect.It.Was. Even if you were hiding under a rock, you might at least have heard what people said about it.

Anyway, I'd waited for 532,800 seconds to discuss.

That’s 8,880 hours.

Or roughly 370 days.

The song clocked in at three and a half minutes and left me breathless. This was how it went.

0:01 
Melancholic intro notes from a guitar. 

0:04 
Cooper and Lady Gaga rose from their seats in the audience. Holding hands, they approached the stage. 

0:09 
They took their positions by the piano. Cooper began to sing. Tell me something, girl... Are you happy in this modern world?

His voice was cool and unruffled. Or do you need more? Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for.

0:14
Then he disclosed, singing off-key, I'm falling. His words were slow and soft around the edges.

1:11 
Lady Gaga responded, Tell me something, boy, her voice seductive and low. Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void? Or do you need more?

1:29 And confessed, I'm falling.

1:50 
She then reached the sweeping chorus. I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in, I'll never meet the ground.

2:16 
She had crashed through the surface. 

2:30 And banged furiously on the piano, hoping to get far from the shallow.

2:32 
Here was where a multitude of vowels that were welling in the deep end emerged. Oh, oh, oh, oh! Whoah!

2:34 
She continued singing, fortissimo, as if she were sharing the delightful secret of what, Oooaaww, really meant.

2:36 
And more of the same. Oooooo-oowaaaaah.

2:51 
Cooper's head nodded as he scanned an imaginary turbulent sea, the misty sky and the full moon (remember, this was performed inside the Dolby Theatre).

I thought he was done singing.

3:02 
But, no. He had gotten up and sat with her. 

3:11
Looking tenderly into her eyes, he intoned, We're far from the shallow now.

They connected in a duet with just three words, In the shallow. And just to make it clear, repeated, In the shallow, sha-ha-ha-hallow.

I got it. They were truly far from the shallow now (although I thought that was where they wanted to be in the first place because the deep end was terrifying). Love could be confusing.

3:24 
He glanced sideways at her as they sang, a sly smile playing about his lips. 

3:31 
Then they trailed off. She was breathing out a sigh, her smile growing. Her expression softened and her eyes misted.

(A hush, then an applause followed by a standing ovation)

(Deep sigh...) February rules the world… at least for 28 days, or a day more on a leap year, like today.

The month of love. 

When life is fairy-tale dreamy and you cannot stop grinning foolishly.

When you swoon over an unabashed tearjerker.

When the water, with the moon shimmering on it, is warm with love.

When you say, Goodbye, but continue to dream of a secret garden somewhere.

When you can imagine strolling along the beach where shallow waves had left a scalloped edge on the sand. 

May I say this again?

OMG.

I'll Go With You

Love, Sweet Love

Somewhere between right and wrong, there is a garden.

I will meet you there. - Rumi

How do you say, Goodbye, particularly to a dream you still wish were true?

I don't know how.

Goodbye. It is the language of ghosts.

How do you break away from a conversation that you know is your last?

I can't.


Goodbye. It is what remains unspoken when the heart stands unguarded and everything else stands frozen in time. Almost like the sun hiding behind the clouds.

How do you express a good wish when parting?

I won't.

Because goodbye seems like forever.

Yet even when no words are uttered aloud, behind that which has been left unsaid are the sounds and colors of every breath chrystallized into vivid pieces of memory.

The unexpressed vow.

So I won't look back. I don't need to because I will remember.

Someday.

Somewhere in a garden.

Io con te. Me with you.

Love Light

Love, Sweet Love

I love handwritten letters. 

Remember those? They seem a lifetime ago.

Before digital.

Before we texted messages using our phones.

I relish the way the words get neat when the writer is trying not to make a mistake. When you can tell that a lined sheet has been placed under the unlined white bond to keep lines of text straight across the page.

I'm amused by the way the words get jumbled up and occasional black ink dots from a Parker pen are incorrectly drawn or omitted when the writer is excited.

I adore the way uppercase letters sometimes get embellished with fancy twirls and curlicues.

Or the way words evoke pretty metaphors using images as large as planetary satellites because the writer is in love.

Like this one.

Captivating and appropriate.

From a lover to another.

I've just been thinking that perhaps Dionne Warwick and even the Beatles got it wrong.

Love isn't all we need.

Love IS all there is. 

Penned from the heart.

Love Story

Love, Sweet Love

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

I started this month's series saying what it is about February that makes my heart smile.

May I repeat, O February, how I love thee!

Let me count the ways.

­­­+ A lot of amazing people were born in February: Third, Fourth, and Youngest Brothers and my darling, beautiful First Granddaughter.

+ Every now and then (such as THIS year), an extra day shows up.

+ And especially because it brings romantic stories (including oldies) to the fore.

Like the three-handkerchief 1970 Oscar-winning drama film Love Story. (Aside: I had loved its leading female star so much that I nicknamed First Daughter after her).

One of the most romantic movies ever made, it has also remained enduringly popular. Why? Where do I begin, as the song line from the movie sound track affirms.

How about at the very beginning? 

Wealthy Harvard University law student Oliver Barrett IV meets Jenny Cavilleri, a middle-class girl who is studying music at Radcliffe College. It's love at first sight.

Their story is sweet. Despite the protests of Oliver's father, the young couple marry. But their happy life comes crashing down when it's discovered that Jenny has terminal illness.

It kind of happens all on its own.

Everything goes wrong.

From her death bed, Jenny tells Oliver to avoid blaming himself and asks him to embrace her tightly before she dies. Even now, I can still hear Jenny's words, Love means never having to say you're sorry.  

Really?

In another context, I think that love is all about saying you're sorry. But this obverse discussion is for another blog. For now, I'm taking the statement with a grain of salt and allowing myself to feel the swell of a bottomless sadness.

Sometimes, mushy and sappy are OK.

It's February, after all.

Pares Puso

Love, Sweet Love

Inspired by Pares Puso, a feature article that I wrote for the Philippine Chronicle, February 1975 

What the world needs now is love, sweet love. - Lyrics of song popular in the mid-60's

What is it about February that makes you smile?

An adorable homemade card with 'love bugs'?

A box of Be Mine sweetheart sugar candies?

A discounted heart chocolate on the 15th?

Me, too.

Plus one other especial thing. Something that I'd relished way back in my early teen years when my chest was flat and my behind was still smooth as a baby’s bottom.

The MYF Valentine's Day celebration.

I literally counted the minutes until party time at St. Matthew's.

I remember getting dressed in a low-waisted floral flare dress. An outfit for the ages. My skyscraping beehive hairstyle held at bay by a matching headband.

And everything was amazing, as I had expected.

The pancit served with a side of puto sprinkled with colored coconut on top that was still making my mouth smile.

The whispering of a gaggle of pre-teens, all of them with the same hairdo, in a corner of the light-strewn patio of the church.

Our voices singing a plea, Let me call you sweetheart and affirming, Skinny marinky dinky dink, I love you.

And the cherished highlight of my evening...

The Pares Puso (literally 'Heart Pairings') game.

This is where names of famous couples from cartoons, history, or TV shows were written on paper. We picked out one from a hat and pinned it on our blouse or shirt front. Then, we mingled and looked for the person that was our pair. Couples would then parade, vying for the prestigious 'Mr. and Miss Valentine' title.

I wanted to be paired with Emy. I kind of, sort of, maybe quite possibly, liked him a whole lot. I began my search, beaming in his direction and tossing my head flirtatiously as I approached.

Hi, I'm Daisy Duck, I said, sounding breathless and patting my heart.

He gave a goofy, embarrassed shrug. I melted.

Si Donald Duck ako. I'm Donald Duck, was the only sentence he spoke.

Maybe he was shy.

Maybe he was intimidated by my hairstyle.

Regardless, I felt a rush of excitement flooding my body. I felt like floating in the air.

What happened the rest of the night? Umm... My heart had just flat-lined. I couldn't remember. Whatever. However. Whyever.

Just that I was glowing like a beacon, captured by the magic of a world filled with love, sweet love and where the lights bobbed and the stars were bright.