"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti


[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]


Sunday, December 27, 2020

Winter Poems




‘Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the
fire: it is the time for a home.’ - Edith Sitwell


Those Winter Sundays
by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?


* * * * * * *



‘Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.’ 
- Pietro Aretino



Winter-Time

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, 
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake
.


* * * * * * *



‘While I relish our warm months, winter
forms our character and brings out our best.’
- Tom Allen


The cold earth slept below
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The cold earth slept below;
         Above the cold sky shone;
                And all around,
                With a chilling sound,
From caves of ice and fields of snow
The breath of night like death did flow
                Beneath the sinking moon.

The wintry hedge was black;
         The green grass was not seen;
                The birds did rest
                On the bare thorn’s breast,
Whose roots, beside the pathway track,
Had bound their folds o’er many a crack
                Which the frost had made between.

Thine eyes glow’d in the glare
         Of the moon’s dying light;
                As a fen-fire’s beam
                On a sluggish stream
Gleams dimly—so the moon shone there,
And it yellow’d the strings of thy tangled hair,
                That shook in the wind of night.

The moon made thy lips pale, beloved;
         The wind made thy bosom chill;
                The night did shed
                On thy dear head
Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie
Where the bitter breath of the naked sky
                Might visit thee at will.


* * * * * * *



‘In seed time learn,
in harvest teach,
in winter enjoy.’
- William Blake


In the bleak midwinter
by Christina Rossetti


In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.


* * * * * * *



‘Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.’
- Anamika Mishra


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.   
His house is in the village though;   
He will not see me stopping here   
To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   
To stop without a farmhouse near   
Between the woods and frozen lake   
The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   
To ask if there is some mistake.   
The only other sound’s the sweep   
Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep.


* * * * * * *



‘What good is the warmth of summer,
without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?’
 - John Steinbeck


The Snow Man 
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.


* * * * * * *



‘One kind word can warm three winter months.’
- Japanese Proverb


The World
by Jennifer Chang


One winter I lived north, alone
and effortless, dreaming myself
into the past. Perhaps, I thought,
words could replenish privacy.
Outside, a red bicycle froze
into form, made the world falser
in its white austerity. So much
happens after harvest: the moon
performing novelty: slaughter,
snow. One hour the same
as the next, I held my hands
or held the snow. I was like sculpture,
forgetting or, perhaps, remembering
everything. Red wings in the snow,
red thoughts ablaze in the war
I was having with myself again.
Everything I hate about the world
I hate about myself, even now
writing as if this were a law
of nature. Say there were deer
fleet in the snow, walking out
the cold, and more gingkoes
bare in the beggar’s grove. Say
I was not the only one who saw
or heard the trees, their diffidence
greater than my noise. Perhaps
the future is a tiny flame
I’ll nick from a candle. First, I’m burning.
Then, numb. Why must every winter
grow colder, and more sure?


* * * * * * *



‘No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.’
- Hal Borland


Song: “Blow, blow, thou winter wind”

by William Shakespeare


Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

   Thou art not so unkind

      As man’s ingratitude;

   Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

      Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:

   Then, heigh-ho, the holly!

      This life is most jolly.


   Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,

   That dost not bite so nigh

      As benefits forgot:

   Though thou the waters warp,

      Thy sting is not so sharp

      As friend remembered not.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly...



* * * * * * *



‘When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong, Just
remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snow, Lies the
seed that with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes the rose.’
- Bette Midler, The Rose


An Old Man's Winter Night

by Robert Frost


All out-of-doors looked darkly in at him

Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,

That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.

What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze

Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.

What kept him from remembering what it was

That brought him to that creaking room was age.

He stood with barrels round him—at a loss.

And having scared the cellar under him

In clomping there, he scared it once again

In clomping off—and scared the outer night,

Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar

Of trees and crack of branches, common things,

But nothing so like beating on a box.

A light he was to no one but himself

Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,

A quiet light, and then not even that.

He consigned to the moon—such as she was,

So late-arising—to the broken moon

As better than the sun in any case

For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,

His icicles along the wall to keep;

And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt

Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,

And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.

One aged man—one man—can’t keep a house,

A farm, a countryside, or if he can,

It’s thus he does it of a winter night.


If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’

- Percy Bysshe Shelley





Wednesday, December 23, 2020

The Promise of Christmas Solstice

 



"Close the door of hate
and open the door of love
all over the world."

- Robert Louis Stevenson


"There's much more to Christmas
than candlelight and cheer;
It's the spirit of sweet friendship
that brightens all the year."

- Anon


"A Star shines brightly
from above,
Church bells ring of
peace and love,
For on this glorious
Christmas Day,
Christ the King
was born this day!"

- Anon









A Christmas Prayer
for Our Children

by R.E. Slater


Bright and beautiful
our precious child --
Take dear Lord our loved Ones dear.
And hold them close Thy loving breast
all the while our holy trust.

Where in your Love 
protects and cares
by sustaining songs
of renewing life, amidst
twinkling stars of the night.

Bless your children dear --
upon your holy breast of tears
Hear our longings
that there they stay
warm and safe all their days.


R.E. Slater
December 23, 2020

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved





Christmastime Solstice

by Cmk


It’s so dark and so cold and yet,
after the longest night of the year,
the sun still rises, 
the days get longer,
dare we hope again
the warming days ahead.

Look up into the night sky --
it's wonderments and praise!
🌙💫🪐
#HOPE


Cmk
December 23, 2020







Is there a moment quite as keen
or memory as bright
as light and fire and music sweet
to warm the winter's night?

- Adam Christianson




Winter Solstice heralds the symbolic rebirth of the Sun, the lengthening of days, and the promise of renewing life. On the Christian Calendar it is preceded by Christ's Advent Coming at the nativity of Bethlehem promising spiritual death to the old way of life in exchange for the birth of new life. Christmas films, novels, poems, and songs, speak to the sustaining promise of God in Christ that what once was in Eden's fellowship with God, has come again at Jesus Christ's birth. Sealed by Christ's atoning redemption at the Cross of Calvary, to become forever new in resurrection glory, truth, and hope, and sustaining divine love. It is because of the Christian story that the phrase, "Love Wins," succinctly captures God's promise to man and creation of redeeming renewal upon the human heart and beast wherein all the old worlds of sin and death be renewed in Jesus' forgiving love of Christmas Day. - re slater

 


Wikipedia

The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice. Its opposite is the summer solstice. Also the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn depending on the hemispheres winter solstice the sun goes 90 degrees below the horizon at solar midnight to the nadir.

The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (usually December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (usually June 20 or 21). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are the "extreme of winter" (Dongzhi), or the "shortest day". Since the 18th century, the term "midwinter" has sometimes been used synonymously with the winter solstice, although it carries other meanings as well. Traditionally, in many temperate regions, the winter solstice is seen as the middle of winter, but today in some countries and calendars, it is seen as the beginning of winter.

Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.


Winter’s Cloak
by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr


This year I do not want
the dark to leave me.
I need its wrap
of silent stillness,
its cloak
of long lasting embrace.
Too much light
has pulled me away
from the chamber
of gestation.


Let the dawns
come late,
let the sunsets
arrive early,
let the evenings
extend themselves
while I lean into
the abyss of my being.


Let me lie in the cave
of my soul,
for too much light
blinds me,
steals the source
of revelation.


Let me seek solace
in the empty places
of winter’s passage,
those vast dark nights
that never fail to shelter me.


*“Winter’s Cloak” is from The Circle of Life: The Heart’s Journey Through the Seasons by sisters Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr in which “using reflections, poems, prayers, and meditations, they explore the relationship between the seasons of the earth and the seasons of our lives.”






While everything was
Wrapped in a gentle silence
And night in its swift course
Was now half gone...

Your All-Powerful Word
Leaped from heaven...
Into the midst of our needy and lonely world...

The whole of creation in its nature
Was fashioned anew -

Protected by your hand - 
And gazing on marvelous wonders.

Wisdom 18:14-16, 19:6-9





The Bells of Christmas
by Eugene Field


Why do the bells of Christmas ring?
Why do little children sing?

Once a lovely shining star, 
Seen by shepherds from afar,
Gently moved until its light,
Made a manger's cradle bright.

There a darling baby lay,
Pillowed soft upon the hay,
And it's mother sung and smiled:
"This is Christ, the holy Child!"

Therefore bells for Christmas ring,
Therefore little children sing.





New Choral Music for 2020

https://global.oup.com/academic/category/arts-and-humanities/sheet-music/choral/new-cds/?cc=us&lang=en&

Sacred

1. O sing unto the Lord - Cecilia McDowall - SATB (with divisions) & organ

2. Angel voices ever singing - Bob Chilcott - SATB (with Alto solo) & organ

3. Come, my Way - David Bednall - SATB & organ

4. Solitude - James Whitbourn - SATB & guitar/piano

5. Locus iste - Will Todd - SATB (with divisions) & piano

6. O splendor of God's glory bright (That Easter day with joy was bright) - Mack Wilberg - SATB & organ/orchestra

7. This little light of mine - Mack Wilberg - SATB & organ/orchestra

8. Glory - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Terry Price - SATB & organ/brass

Secular

9. Yes, I am your angel - Gabriel Jackson - SATB unaccompanied

10. Swept Away - Sarah Quartel - SSATBarB unaccompanied

11. The Lover's Ghost - Oliver Tarney - SATB & piano

12. When I am laid in earth - Henry Purcell, arr. Stanley Hofman - Soprano solo & SATB unaccompanied

13. Poems of Love and War – Howard Skempton – SATB unaccompanied

14. See the light – Sarah Quartel – SA & piano

15. Slow Down – Ian Assersohn – TTBB & piano

16. Piping down the valleys wild – Bob Chilcott – SATB & piano with optional bass & drum kit

Christmas

17. Come and dance – Toby Young – SATB unaccompanied

18. Cradle Song – Bob Chilcott – SATB unaccompanied with optional congregation

19. The Angel Gabriel – Michael Higgins – SSSSAATBB unaccompanied

20. A Carol of Mary – Malcolm Archer – SATB (with divisions) & organ

21. Christ our Emmanuel – John Rutter – SATB & piano/organ/trio

22  Hail, heavenly beam – David Bednall – SATB unaccompanied

23. Christmas Welcome – James Whitbourn – SATB & organ

24. A spotless Rose – Becky McGlade – SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied

25. Brightest Star – Cecilia McDowall – SSATB unaccompanied

26. Gabriel's Message – Benedict Sheehan – SATB & organ/piano

27. Lo! He slumbers in his manger – Cecilia McDowall – SATB unaccompanied

28. Child of Light – Mack Wilberg – SATB & piano four-hands/chamber orchestra

29. Ring the bells – Alan Bullard – SATB & piano

30. I saw three ships – Andy Brooke – SATB & piano

31. His Praises We'll Sing – David Blackwell – SATB (with divisions) & piano

32. A little child there is yborn – Malcolm Archer – SATB & organ

33. Silent night – Bob Chilcott – SATB & organ

Liturgical

34. Kyrie from 'St Martin's Mass' – David Bednall – SATB & organ, with opt. congregation

35. Gloria from 'St Martin's Mass' – David Bednall – SATB & organ, with opt. congregation

36. Sanctus from 'St Martin's Mass' – David Bednall – SATB & organ, with opt. congregation

37. Benedictus from 'St Martin's Mass' – David Bednall – SATB & organ, with opt. congregation

38. Agnus Dei from 'St Martin's Mass' – David Bednall – SATB & organ, with opt. congregation





R.E.Slater - Me and My Yesterday Church




"because the world needs more, not less,
love, fidelity, commitment, devotion, and sacrifice"





Me and My Yesterday Church

R.E. Slater
December 23, 2020


Farewell,
Farewell to all my conversations
Farewell to all my bright heart's dreamin's
I just wanna feel something
I just wanna believe in something
Keep me up all night
Keep me up long nights.


Farewell,
Farewell to all my yesterday's teachings
Farewell to all my last year's feelings
I just wanna feel something
I just wanna believe in something
Keep me up all year long
Keep me up all year long.


Hello,
Hello to all my new conversations
Hello to all my sad heart's seasons
I once felt something
I had once felt something
Loved you yesterday
Loved you once yesterday.


Hello,
Hello to all my new inspirations
Hello to all my waking sensations
No more sunrise suffocations
No more noontide horrorfications
Let you go
Let you go for all my tomorrows.


Overcome here,
Overcome and not forsaking
Overcome here not letting you flow by
My yesterday's illuminations
My tomorrow's inaugurations
Won't let you go
Won't let you go, no, not I.


No more,
No more sad goodbyes
No more lost goodbyes
No more dark night's weepings
No more daylight sweepings
Becoming has commenced
Becoming is becoming again.


R.E. Slater
December 23, 2020

*dedicated to the process theologies
of open and relational Christology
and letting go of the Trumpian church
once hallowed, once divine.

*ps... thanks to Miley Cyrus
for the inspiration; Rock On...


@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved






* * * * * * * * *



Plastic Hearts (Backyard Sessions)
by Miley Cyrus (Official Music Video)


LYRICS

Hello
The sunny place for shady people
A crowded room where nobody goes
You can be whoever you wanna be here

And Oh
I’ve been living at the Chateau
Shouldn’t drive but I should really go home
I don’t even know ‘em but they won’t leave here

Frightened by my own reflection
Desperate for a new connection
Pull you in but don’t you get too close
Love you now but not tomorrow
Wrong to steal but not to borrow
Pull you in but don’t you get too close

I’ve been California dreaming
Plastic hearts are bleeding
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night
(all night)

Lost in black hole conversation
Sunrise suffocation
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night

I just wanna feel
I just wanna feel something
But I keep feeling nothing all night long
All night long
All night long
All night long

Hello
I’ll tell you all the people I know
Sell you something that you already own
I can be whoever you want me to be

Love me now but not tomorrow
Fill me up but leave me hollow
Pull me in but don’t you get too close

I’ve been California dreaming
Plastic hearts are bleeding
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night
(all night)

lost in Black hole conversation
Sunrise suffocation
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night

I just wanna feel
I just wanna feel something
But I keep feeling nothing all night long
All night long
All night long
All night long

I’ve been California dreaming
Plastic hearts are bleeding
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night
(all night)

lost in Black hole conversations
Sunrise suffocation
Keep me up all night
(keep me up)
Keep me up all night

I just wanna feel
I just wanna feel something
But I keep feeling nothing all night long