Your Song

Most of us celebrate our birthdays by singing a simple song called "Happy Birthday".  I heard another song sung recently by a musical duo in Palm City, Florida. The song is called "Your Song". Their version  was a more soulful rendition than the original and the words and meaning seem clearer to me now.

     "How wonderful life is, now that you're in the world."

Wouldn't these 10 words carry more meaning as we get older?   Wouldn't that piece of cake and blowing out of the candles seem sweeter with this melody preceding your birthday wish? I don't think Elton John would mind making a sentimental switch of his love song to a birthday love song.

   More recently I read this:  

"When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. Then the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud.
Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else. When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child’s song to him or her.
Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child’s song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come together and sing.
At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.
Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person’s bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life. In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child.
If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them. The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behaviour is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity.
When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another."

Dreams

The Passionate Freudian to His Love

  by Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker

While the pale moon gleams, we will dream sweet dreams,
 And I'll win your admiration,
For it's only fair to admit I'm there
 With a mean interpretation.
In the sunrise glow we will whisper low
 Of the scenes our dreams have painted,
And when you're advised what they symbolized
 We'll begin to feel acquainted.
So we'll gaily float in a slumber boat
 Where subconscious waves dash wildly;
In the stars' soft light, we will say good-night—
 And “good-night!” will put it mildly.

            
               ~  (excerpt from The Passionate Freudian to His Love)



At night we are at liberty to dream what we wish. The interpretation of dreams launched a whole branch of psychoanalysis introduced by Sigmund Freud.
But those who love need only feel the emotion, admiration and dream sweet dreams. Parker finds the humor in all this and knows love and laughter is the best medicine.
    The song Dreams by Brian Culbertson puts me in a peaceful mood. We may not always understand our dreams, but we can always believe in our dreams. So to every reader, I wish a golden slumber to fill your eyes.

                                                    
                                                                     
   
                           
                          

My Mother Used To Say

  "My mother used to say, "When you're truly in love, you see the face you love in your coffee cup, in the washstand mirror, in the shine on your shoes."
      ~James Patterson and  Richard Dilallo  from   Alex Cross's Trial"

                                       

When we think about the person we love, they are in every other thought and appear in the most common daily tasks and habits. I looked in my morning cup of green tea and imagined the woman I love somewhere inside that paper cup. As I brought that cup to my lips, I had to smile.
    I look at Simon and Garfunkel singing this song with a little wistfulness as they remember Emily. Sometimes the streets are empty when they think of her, and sometime, she is close enough to touch her honey hair. The sweetness of this song sounds good with my morning tea.
   Wherever you "see" the vision of your love,and whenever her memory shines upon you, the important thing is not to forget him or her.
 
 

Cloths of Heaven

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

      - William Butler Yeats

                                                                                                                         84 Charing Cross Road  (movie)

This poem of begins with a wish of man who wants to give everything that is beautiful and valuable to his love. He would, if he had the wealth, offer her these riches throughout the 24-hours of  a day--through sunrise and the half-light of twilight and the blue grey(dim) of evening sunset.

He knows that this is an impossible dream, still, he wants it to be known. After all  doesn't  love make us believe anything  is possible? Our dreams and desires are fragile things. We see in this poem both a universal divinity and a universal dignity. Love can either  encourage us or discourage us. When we hear another person's dreams of love, we should "tread softly" and be grateful.

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

Tread lightly

More about Cloth of Heaven

Youth Group Rehearsing by composer Stephen Lange

Picture of the Cloths of Heaven 

The Course of Love

"And think not that you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course."      
-Khalil Gibran   ( The Prophet )

The Road to Love - Carma Jewell

  The road to love is not an easy one to travel, but vital, all the same! When love is right, it rises above you, at first like a  wispy heart cloud. Later,  it may become more like a bright sun to illuminate our lives. I hope  everyone might see this cloud one day.

My Romance

In an article from Real Simple magazine entitled "How Do You Put Romance In Your Life?",
 one woman wrote:

"My fiancé and I read to each other. The first time we did this was while we were on the west coast of Ireland. He lit a fire, I laid my head on his lap, and he began A Walk to Remember, by Nicholas Sparks."

   I like the idea of sitting by a fire with someone you love and reading to them. When you begin a love story you can never tell how it will end. Nevertheless, like our own life stories, what matters is the romance, not the ending. Listen to Nicholas Sparks' interview here.

 Just listen to the sound of your partner's voice. Just that sound alone can start the feelings of romance.
In the song "My Romance", Bernadette Peters reminds us that the simple things are sometimes the most romantic.

Morning Bird

 Sing to me My morning bird
 The sweetest song I ever heard
 Love's melody In your hearts own words
 Sing to me My morning bird 
When the sun Climbs over the mountain 
Just to hear you sing your song
 And all the stars Lay down in heaven
 To take their rest Till evening comes 
       ~Morning Bird- Forest Sun

When birds sing in the morning they are trying to attract a mate and proclaim their territory.
 A Red-eyed Vireo sings more than 20,000 songs a day.

Red-eyed Vireo

Some birds have large repertoires--the Brown Thrasher can sing as many as 2,000 distinct songs. Other species, such as the Henslow’s Sparrow, seem to have only one song. 

In North America, we hear mostly males singing, because they typically take the lead in defending territories and attracting mates. However, especially in the tropics, some species sing duets involving both the male and female.

 Listen to this  song (above) by Forest Sun.   It is a duet. Perhaps this is the reason, I like my cellphone to ring in the morning or  to receive a "humming"  text in the early morning from people I  love. All that buzzing  reminds  me of the  songs of love from the morning bird .

One Whole Heart

"A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home." ~ Rumi

It is rare to find that person who loves us totally and not-half-heartedly.
How can you be sure when you have found that person?
First they must show acceptance, for who you are and not try too change you.
Second, they must give you their attention -thru letters, phone-calls.
Third, they must show you affection. Psychology Today magazine, in the April 2013 issues says "our secret weapon in successful relationships is touch and it speaks louder than words.  A loving couple shares messages of affection; she rubs his arms with her hands, he nuzzles his face in her hair."

It sounds simple, but it isn't , of course. Perhaps if you are lucky, you have already met that person who reveals his whole heart . If not, Rumi says you should keep trying. You deserve the full amount of love a true heart can give.
    Jule Garrish sings. "Before I Met You" which provides a deep understanding of waiting for the
right person.
;

   In order for connections to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be really seen.

The Element Love

                               

The element Lo is not written down in the PERIODIC TABLE OF THE KNOWN ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY. Neither is the element Jo for Joy. Yet both of these "elements" are essential to  life.
"Find a place where there's a joy, and the joy will  burn out the pain." ~Joseph Campbell

We were once all "bundles of joy",  little babies, living for the first few days in a nursery. Start your journey to joy with that thought.
   When love turns to joy and joy turns to love, there is no greater alchemy.