Greetings Poetry Lovers! A new season is officially upon us. On the autumnal equinox on Monday, I drove out to a little county park featuring the last covered bridge in South Carolina, Campbell's Covered Bridge, just 11 miles from my house. Beneath the bridge, a stream babble-rushed over the smoothed-by-time rocky shoals. Now and then, an amber leaf atop the current rushed by as well. A lovely little solo outing for this curious nature and history buff.
On the way home, NPR's Performance Today® offered beautiful music for the curves of country roads. One such piece was a choral work by an early 20th Century French composer, Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918), Soliels de Septembre, or, Suns of September. I can't find it specifically mentioned on the program list for that day, but it was in the second half somewhere. Here is an interpretation I found on YouTube, transcribed by harpist Jacqueline Pollauf. The work includes words from a poem by Auguste Lacaussade (1815–1897) that Boulanger set to music. Here is a link to the words in French. I struggled to find an accessible English translation, but I did come upon a page at a website called "lyricstranslate.com," and a contributor named Neenna offers this translation. (Thanks to Neenna, whoever you are!)
What moved me as I was driving along and listening to Fred Child reading translated verses was that after many lines lamenting all that is lost when days turn colder (birds stop singing, streams go silent, the world mourns), the final words in the piece are these (from the translation by Neenna):
But console yourself, earth ! oh Nature : oh Cybèle !
Winter is a sleep and is not the death,
Springs will return to make you green and beautiful,
Man ages and dies, you, you do not age !
(Note - Cybèle is a Mother Nature-type goddess.)
Okay, I'll grant that our mortality maybe isn't the cheeriest of subjects, but I do find it comforting that we are all part of the larger circles of life, notes in a larger rhythm.
The first anniversary of Helene's devastation in the Carolinas is this weekend. Lately, I'd been noticing thise large plants sprouting up next to our driveway in areas where we had fallen trees cleared last year, with dandilion-like fluff at their tops. I looked it up on my "Picture This" app, and it's American Burnweed. The description says, "...also recognized as fireweed, (it) displays an interesting trait by thriving in disturbed soils, serving as an indicator of environmental change. It flourishes where the soil is impacted by erosion, pollution, or significant weather shifts." Interesting!
Wishing you clear skies and the perfect reading spot as we venture into fall. (Oh - and with this change of seasons & Halloween coming up, I'm still working on greeting cards! Will share and list those ASAP. ;0) )
Now, enjoy visiting the Roundup hosted by our amazing Amy at The Poem Farm, up in New York state, where there are a lot more covered bridges than down here.