I Am in Need of Music
I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling fingertips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!
There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.
–Elizabeth Bishop
a snippet of Tara Donovan at the ICA Boston, bathed in green
A beautiful poem. Tara Donovan’s snippet is a perfect match to Bishop’s metaphor of melody as the quiet of the deep sea.
I like the image of melody washing over us, easing our anxieties, easing our cares.
I’ve been reading more of Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry. There’s a depth to her work that makes me pause to ponder.
MS, She will deliver up her depth, again and again and again. My admiration for her work only increases with time. And thanks for your words about the Donovan image. That was how it made me feel too.