Music, Heartstrings and "That Lost Native Country"

Music 
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother's piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I've never understood
Why this is so
But there's an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.


"Music" by Anne Porter from Living Things: Collected Poems
(As heard on "The Writer's Almanac" and read by Garrison Keillor)


How about you? Is there music that pulls on your heartstrings?

Comments

TAB said…
Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Morning Mood
Zoanna said…
1. My Deliverer
2. It is Well with my Soul
3. Cat's in the Cradle
4. You are So Beautiful
5. His Eye is on the Sparrow
6. Ave Maria
7. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
8. The Old Rugged Cross
9. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
10. My Redeemer
11. AMazing Grace

and many, many more.
Laurie said…
Oh, that is a beauty, Tab!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAbwMGZtIsY

I also love:
Luigi Boccherini: Minuetto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE15tLBdso
and
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec7R-gpWk2A&feature=related
and
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.8.WMV (Pathetique)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4bZpXA0P8
and
Bach‘s Air on a G string
(how about w/ harmonica?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA76qbP9wsE&feature=related

and so many more I may have to add to list as I think of them!!
Laurie said…
And yes Zoanna, those are some great songs and hymns! My faves from your list are:
#s 2, 6, 7 and 11!
Laurie said…
And while we're at it...
I can't say this makes me cry. On the contrary!
McFerrin and Bona almost always make me smile!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iimMKWF7SK0&feature=related

Hope you don't mind all the copying and pasting!

It's all worth your effort, in my opinion!
LivG said…
I have so many, but I never remember names or titles. I think that music definitely speaks to my soul and depending on my mood, the music that speaks most changes. You know what I mean?
Laurie said…
Liv- Yes I do know what you mean!
For me there are some songs that "speak to my soul" each time I hear them, whether it's because the music is emotion provoking or there is a memory connected to the song. And sometimes with hymns, it's because I just Needed to hear it or I'd never REALLY heard the words before! Ya know?

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