Music – This Jolly Beggar

A-Souling

*Photo by Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash*

A-Souling

“Hey ho, nobody home . . . ?”

His sing-song question fell on no ears but hers,
deaf all others to its celebratory tones
the night of All Hallow’s Eve.

Tenor voice attuned to hearth,
lights in hands they enter
to find soul cakes laid on barrels,
beer and apples.

None heard him but her,
would never leave her
till her heart stopped, like his:
a toast before departing,
as midnight strikes.

“I will come and sing no more
’til this time next year.”

Soul cakes? A-souling? Unfamiliar with these terms are you, like I was? According to wikipedia, soul cakes are spicy shortbread-like biscuits given out to “soulers” who come round during the days of Allhallowtide singing and saying prayers, a’souling, in fact.

One traditional song, “A-Souling,” was made familiar to us by Peter, Paul, and Mary who sung it as a Christmas song, which for most parts of England it has become. The group Lothlorien sings it in the traditional mood of Allhallowtide.

Click here for the lyrics.

Sammi's Weekend Writing Prompt: "question," exactly 84 words
Sammi's 13 Days of Samhain -- Day 4: "soul cakes"
Punam's RagTag Daily Prompt: "celebration"

That Funky 70’s Hit

For dVerse Poetics --I couldn't get Lillian's birthday website link to work either, so I simply chose a memorable hit from my childhood.  Grand Funk Railroad's "The Loco-Motion" is the first No. 1 song I remember from my childhood in the 70's. It seemed to be everywhere on the radio all the time. But the song had been recorded first by Little Eva and been No. 1 in the 60's; later in the 80's Kylie Minogue took it to No. 3 on the Billboard. Not bad for a song about a train dance, chug-a-chuga! Click on Mr. Linky to join in!

The 70’s made a lot of commotion
The worst in hair, the worst in fashion
I ran around in patchy jeans and braids
You were cool in long hair and good grades
Then one day the neighborhood was jammin’
People snappin’ fingers and gyratin’
Kids in diapers and granddads in knickers
All fancyin’ the music, ignoring the snickers
“Come on, come on,” “chug-a-chuga,” swinging hips
“Groovy!” “the loco-motion” on everyone’s lips!

Curtain Fall

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields invites us weekly to join the Friday Fictioneers in their creative quests of a hundred words or less, prompted by a photo. Click on the frog to join in!

Curtain Fall

He was a wandering musician, traversing continents, twanging on his banjo, a wordless witness to a universal language.

No one knew his origins.

Still the story is told that he came from another world. And one came seeking him whose betrayal had left him mute. Powerless to make him return, she took with her the memory of his youthful fingers dancing on strings, his eyes expressive of no other purpose than seeking nameless tunes of faithless love.

Raindrops fall like tears on tree-trunk curtains, ethereal remnants of her departure from this world.

In a midnight café, a tuneful banjo plays.

Sunday Morning 10-11-2020

Deuteronomy 7: 9 — Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

Ephesians 1: 3-4 — Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Psalm 27:5 — For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

Cee's FOTD Challenge

Share Your World 8-3-2020

(Image Courtesy of Paula Light, with subtle tweaking by Melanie)

Here are this week’s questions from Melanie’s Share Your World:

Continue reading “Share Your World 8-3-2020”

Share Your World 7-27-2020

Here are this week’s questions on Melanie’s Share Your World.

Are you a clean or messy person? Both – it depends. Messy until the messiness gets in my way or clean until the cleanliness gets in my way. Generally speaking, rather clean.

If I asked you to describe yourself in five words – what would they be? A child of God —Simul justus et peccator (I’m counting all the Latin as one very pretentious word 🙂

Do you enjoy being out in nature? Walking in the woods or along a river path for me is like hearing the the slow movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.

Don’t freak out. You’ll recognize it as soon as you hear the first notes.

In the same way, being outdoors hiking or just sitting on a hillside shatters me with nostalgia and the longing of a traveller headed home.