Two things that I find ,,, what's the word? ... Heartening?

[capri0mni]

This is a Yin-Yang post. The first is cheering in a lump-in-the-throat, "where's my hankie?" sort of way: Straight forward and innocent. The second is complex, dark and verges on despair. But, just as the Yin Yang symbol represents one thing transforming into another, I think they really do come together into something that is ultimately hopeful:

1) One Small Voice (can teach the world a song) -- YouTube video by the late, Great, Jeff Moss, song-writer and Muppet designer for Sesame Street, and sung here by a church choir for a concert on December 11, last year.


One small voice
Can teach the world a song.
Start with one small voice
Till another joins along.
Then you feel the music
Growing full and sure and strong.
One small voice
Can teach the world a song.

Every song the world sings,
Each was once unknown.
Somebody felt a song song inside
And wasn`t afraid to sing alone.
If you feel the music,
And you sing it clear and true,
then the world can sing with you.

Oh one small voice
Can teach the world a song.
Start with one small voice
Till another joins along.
Then you'll feel the music
Growing full and sure
And strong.
One small voice
Can teach the world a song.

No tune is to simple.
No voice can be wrong.
Music come from any heart
And anyone`s voice can lead the song.
If you feel the music
And if you believe the words,
sing,and you`ll be heard.

Oh one small voice
Can teach the world a song.
Start with one small voice
Till another joins along.
Then you feel the music
Growing full and sure and strong.
One small voice
Can teach the world a song,
a song!

(repeat chorus)

"Every song the world sings -- each was once unknown ..." That's a much bigger thought than you usually find on a show for little kids. BTW, according to the Muppet Wiki site, this song first aired in 1989 (Sesame Street's 20th Anniversary year), but I can't find that version -- it got remixed very quickly for recordings and later on-air versions.

2) Shakespeare's Sonnet #66 -- not sure why I find this so cheering, since it's basically a list of eleven reasons to wish for death, versus one reason to keep on living... Except maybe I'm finding solace that an essential stranger from 400+ years ago once raged against the same injustices in the world that I do-- assurance that, no, it's not just me-- and that he expressed his rage with wit and wordplay, instead of (or perhaps, taking a break from) a raw, animalistic, howl.


Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As, to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And guilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly doctor-like controlling skill,
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

Mother was tickled by line 12: "And captive good attending captain ill" when she first read it. And I find myself nodding with "OMG THIS, so much!" at line 11: "And simple truth miscall'd simplicity"

I find it interesting, by the way, that when I searched for readings of this sonnet on YouTube, most of the hits that came back had the sonnet translated into either Russian or German, and put to melodies as protest songs, and it was much less popular (apparently) among American / British people.

Maybe where these two pieces agree is in the notion that we find our comfort and our courage in our relationships with other people ... ???

Comments

[dharma_slut]

For me it's
"And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly doctor-like controlling skill,"

[capri0mni]

Frankly, as I am, myself, disabled (with cerebral palsy), and walk, when I walk, with crutches and a non-rhythmic gait, that "disabled" line is the only one out of fourteen which gives me pause, since anything that paints disability as an ultimate tragedy makes me wince.

But then, I remember that Willie boy was quite fond of double meanings, and "Sway" also means "Political influence," so the line is less about physical strength or weakness and more about moral strength and the freedom to "exercise" it -- which fits quite snugly into the next lines.

But yes: "Art made tongue-tied by authority." Absolutely.

[dharma_slut]

I immediately went to political sway, because fuck if that isn't exactly what we are seeing right now...

I've never read this sonnet, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I know about it now!

[capri0mni]

political sway, because fuck if that isn't exactly what we are seeing right now...

Exactly so. And I will leave it at that before I spend the next two hours writing a political rant.

---
And you are most welcome! I know that when folks share their favorite poems with me (especially if it's a piece that's new to me), I often look up from the words to see the world through a new, and unsmudged lens. So I like to return the favor now and then.

And yeah, this is one of the lesser-discussed / shared poems. I can definitely see how school boards would be leery of including it in the reading for a high school class (which is the only way most people these days encounter Shakespeare). Not only would class discussion open up a whole can of wormy politics, it also has the frank and unambiguous discussion of suicide and prostitution...