Two Poems of music and love

Music – Third Degree of Love

The music interrogates, interrupts,

Does not let me sleep.

It keeps me thinking, planning, wondering,

But not resting.

The music questions me

And keeps me hoping.

The nightmare rides me

Cold sweats shiver me

And I lie and listen to the wind

Cold, cold wind of night

That blows where it will,

Finds every gap in the window frame

To blow through me and around me

Picking the bones the music has left

Digging deeper and deeper

Until only the music, only the music is left.

The music questions me like

The dreaded midnight knock on the door,

The unanswerable questions

For which the answer must be found

Or the third degree continues.

The wind’s cold song blows on

But this questioning is the questioning of love.

Love will find me in the music

The song which I cannot escape.

Music binds me up and frees me,

It loses me and finds me

And in the end I know again

That love is all and

That music is its language.

Cool sand left by the waters retreat: a beach on the Transkei Wild Coast

Tears

Are these tears for an unfelt sadness?

Or are they tears of an unknown joy?

What is the meaning of this hollow heart

Or the heaviness that pulls me down

When what I really want is to jump

To fly where I’ve never been before?

Or see again the pink clouds dawning

Or the creamy waves on the shore.

Strained between the heights of joy

And the shadow valley of sadness

I see the world reflected in the brassy candlestick

Or the feeling shining in your eyes;

The passionate intricate weave of live

Rich colours intertwined;

Cool sand left by the water’s retreat,

The patterns of the shiny black crystals

Echo the waves,

Visual echo of the sound of shells

Held against the ear.

I hear the rhythms of the source of life,

Deep-layered sea

Echoing in the labyrinth pearly interior

Spiralling into infinite harmony;

Cool womb of thought,

Cradle on consciousness,

Sand and water,

Children’s playground,

Death and life,

Retreat and advance,

Cold grave and parent of joy;

Salt sea fed by tears;

Drops in the ocean

Become the warm current of life;

Consciousness fed by experience,

The awareness by which we jump free of heaviness;

Climb out of the valley,

And hear in the shell

Another song of joy

As life begins again.

Copyright Notice

The text and all images on this page, unless otherwise indicated, are by Tony McGregor who hereby asserts his copyright on the material. Should you wish to use any of the text or images feel free to do so with proper attribution and, if possible, a link back to this page. Thank you.

© Tony McGregor 2008