viral poetry

[owlmoose]

Reconciliation
Walt Whitman

Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
... For my enemy is dead--a man divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin--I draw near;
I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.




Via friede. (If you haven't read the poem she posted for this meme, you should.)

Comments

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

Lovely choice, splendid imagery and a message much needed just now.

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I thought so; glad you do, too. Whitman somehow slipped my mind when I made my earlier comments about poets. He came to my attention last year, when I performed Vaughn Williams's "Dona Nobis Pacem", which is a setting of several of Whitman's Civil War poems, including this one. Quite the experience. Singing a setting of Beat! Beat! Drums! in Spring 2004 was both moving and chilling.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

You continue to astonish. I did not know you sang. Soprano, mezzo, or contralto?

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Oh, that hasn't come up? Yes. I'm a low mezzo and usually sing first alto. I've been singing in choruses almost continuously since I was in high school, although I'm not going to be able to do it this fall because of a schedule conflict with the next concert. But next winter I will rearrange my life however is necessary, because the group I sing with is doing Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem", which is one of the most wonderful pieces of choral music ever written.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

one of the most wonderful pieces of choral music ever written.
I surely agree with you. I am fond of so many Requiems. Composers seem to feel free to let their inspiration soar when writing these. The Verdi one almost reduces me to a quivering puddle. And Mozart - ah, it is the voice of g-d indeed.

Somehow, I sensed you could not be a colouratura. I always hear your voice in my head as deep and soothing. LOL

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

We did the Verdi last year, or maybe it was the year before, and it was indeed moving. (It was also something of an endurance test; my chorus doesn't have room for chairs in its performance space. That's a long time to stand in one place.) Somehow, by whatever stroke of circumstances, I have never performed the Mozart. I'm familiar with it, of course, but listening is not the same experience as singing.

I agree with you about requiems. So often they are a composer's masterwork. I wish Beethoven had written one.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

This is a letter I think you will appreciate. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/anti_bush/660238.html?style=mine#cutid1)

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a strong statement, and so well expressed. Thanks for sharing the link. I am not familiar with the poet but her work with others sounds amazing.