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Denny Bradbury Books

Denny Bradbury Books

Monthly Archives: May 2014

John Agard – Nuptials

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by dennybradburybooks in Misc

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River, be their teacher,
that together they may turn
their future highs and lows
into one hopeful flow

Two opposite shores
feeding from a single source.
Mountain, be their milestone,
that hand in hand they rise above
familiarity’s worn tracks
into horizons of their own
Two separate footpaths
dreaming of a common peak.

Birdsong, be their mantra,
that down the frail aisles of their days,
their twilight hearts twitter morning
and their dreams prove branch enough.

In John Agard’s ‘Nuptials’, he looks to nature as a source of inspiration for a long, successful marriage. He hopes the couple can learn from rivers, mountains and birdsong. “River, be their teacher”, “Mountain, be their milestone”, “Birdsong, be their mantra”.

He urges them to keep their relationship fresh “hand in hand they rise above/familiarity’s worn tracks”, and take the good times with the bad times “together they may turn/their future highs and lows/into one hopeful flow.”

This idea of taking the good with the bad and coming out the other side is also shared by Denny Bradbury in her work for a wedding ‘Holding Hands!’. She writes that “The golden days and cloudy ones will merge as if one!”.

She also uses nature to advise the bride and groom, saying that “Life is made of rock as well as sand!” She urges the couple to look to the future with excitement, “Dance into your future with delight!”.

Both Agard and Bradbury hope that love will conquer all, with Agard writing “down the frail aisles of their days,/their twilight hearts twitter morning/and their dreams prove branch enough.” and Bradbury advising “Dark shadows may be lurking that may even seem to move!/But they will disappear as long as you know how to love!”

Denny Bradbury – Holding Hands!

Walk into the future holding hands!
Life is made of rock as well as sand!
No looking back except to glance and learn from where you come!
No staring at what might have been across what’s past and done!
Walk into the future holding hands!

Dance into your future with delight!
See only what is positive and right!
Dark shadows may be lurking that may even seem to move!
But they will disappear as long as you know how to love!
Dance into your future with delight!

Sing into your future let your song!
Be wonderful harmonious and long!
The golden days and cloudy ones will merge as if as one!
Highlight all the happy times let rain bring on the sun!
Sing into your future let your song!
Be wonderful harmonious and long!

Robert Burns

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by dennybradburybooks in Fiction

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Robert Burns – On seeing a wounded Hare limp by me, which a Fellow had just shot at

Inhuman man! curse on thy barbarous act,
And blasted be thy murder-aiming eye;
May never pity sooth thee with a sigh,
Nor ever pleasure glad thy cruel heart!

Go live, poor wanderer of the wood and field!
The bitter little that of life remains:
No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains
To thee shall home, or food, or pastime yield.

Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest,
No more of rest, but now thy dying bed!
The sheltering rushes whistling o’er thy head,
The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest.

Oft as winding Nith, I, musing, wait
The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn,
I’ll miss thee sporting o’er the dewy lawn,
And curse the ruffian’s aim, and mourn thy hapless fate .

On Seeing a Wounded Hare Limp by me, which a Fellow Had just Shot at’ is based on fact, with Burns writing about his experience seeing a hare shot and cursing the person who shot him.

Burns talks about his respect for the hare, and regrets the loss of life, “I’ll miss thee sporting o’er the dewy lawn,/And curse the ruffian’s aim, and mourn thy hapless fate.” He clearly believes it’s a life lost in vain.

He is clearly angry that humanity has killed the innocence of an animal, “Inhuman man! Curse on thy barbarous act,”… “Go live, poor wanderer of the wood and field!”
Like Burns, Denny Bradbury writes of the dangers that face hares, in her poem in support of the Hare preservation trust, ‘Ballad of Running Hare!’

Bradbury’s poem could be seen as representing the life of someone fleeing war – “she runs to save her life from all that would be cruel!/she runs to stop her life being over far too soon!/born into a world where there is no redress!”

Bradbury’s hare clearly lives a life of fear as she tries to stay alive in her world full of peril – “born into danger where dark stalks with light!”

It’s a story of a mother trying to protect her children from the cruelties of the world, before she sadly dies in her attempts to protect them “the babies stay living for one more day!/both mother and father died in the affray!/they submit to the order today!”

Ballad of Running Hare!

she runs to save her life from all that would be cruel!
she runs to stop her life being over far too soon!
born into a world where there is no redress!
born into the field where beasts set her tests!
she submits to the order around!

she runs to take cover and lead them astray!
she runs to seek help from those who betray!
born into a world are her leverets bright!
born into danger where dark stalks with light!
they submit to the order around!

her expectations take on mortal fear!
her eyes and her ears ever wary and keen!
her stillness belies the intense need to rear!
yet another small group of the vulnerable pups!
she submits to the order around!

her mate is as keen to keep hopes alive!
he runs and protects them so dies as he tries!
the babies stay living for just one more day!
both mother and father died in the affray!
they submit to the order today!

Salzburg and Vienna

26 Monday May 2014

Posted by dennybradburybooks in Denny's Diary

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Salzburg, Sound of Music, Vienna

A short but busy break in Salzburg followed by Vienna has left me reeling at the splendour of the two cities.  Salzburg was by far the most enjoyable and had an atmosphere to which Vienna could only aspire.  We enjoyed the grandeur and art of Vienna but also found it overwhelming. Salzburg was delightful and may well see us return to savour once more its squares, gardens and welcoming hospitality. We worked out our own version of the Sound of Music tour and revelled thoroughly in the places that are permanently etched in so many minds from the iconic film. Mozart, Strauss and flowers, nothing disappointed here. Travelling is about broadening the mind but it is also true that it is about self discovery, I now know that I am a country person at heart and like cities if they are small and manageable. Perhaps it is because I was born in Winchester.  Western Austria has given rise to ideas for more poetry but all those are as yet unformed. I am consulting with my muse about them at the moment.

Wherever you travel, I hope you enjoy the experience and that you fulfil your dreams.

Best wishes, Denny Bradbury

Christina Rosetti – Eve

26 Monday May 2014

Posted by dennybradburybooks in Misc

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 “While I sit at the door,
Sick to gaze within,
Mine eye weepeth sore
For sorrow and sin:
As a tree my sin stands
To darken all lands;
Death is the fruit it bore.
 “How have Eden bowers grown
Without Adam to bend them!
How have Eden flowers blown,
Squandering their sweet breath,
Without me to tend them!
The Tree of Life was ours,
Tree twelvefold-fruited,
Most lofty tree that flowers,
Most deeply rooted:
I chose the Tree of Death.
 “Hadst thou but said me nay,
Adam, my brother,
I might have pined away;
I, but none other:
God might have let thee stay
Safe in our garden
By putting me away
Beyond all pardon.
 “I, Eve, sad mother
Of all who must live,
I, not another,
Plucked bitterest fruit to give
My friend, husband, lover.
O wanton eyes run over!
Who but I should grieve? –
Cain hath slain his brother:
Of all who must die mother,
Miserable Eve! “
Thus she sat weeping,
Thus Eve, our mother,
Where one lay sleeping
Slain by his brother.
Greatest and least
Each piteous beast
To hear her voice
Forgot his joys
And set aside his feast.
The mouse paused in his walk
And dropped his wheaten stalk;
Grave cattle wagged their heads
In rumination;
The eagle gave a cry
From his cloud station;
Larks on thyme beds
Forbore to mount or sing;
Bees drooped upon the wing;
The raven perched on high
Forgot his ration;
The conies in their rock,
A feeble nation,
Quaked sympathetical;
The mocking-bird left off to mock;
Huge camels knelt as if
In deprecation;
The kind hart ‘s tears were falling;
Chattered the wistful stork;
Dove-voices with a dying fall
Cooed desolation,
Answering grief by grief.
Only the serpent in the dust,
Wriggling and crawling,
Grinned an evil grin, and thrust
His tongue out with its fork.
Rosetti looks at grief from the point of view of a biblical figure – Eve. She talks of Eve’s yearning to get back to the Garden of Eden and regret at what she’s done to lead to her expulsion. “While I sit at the door,
/Sick to gaze within,
/Mine eye weepeth sore/For sorrow and sin:/As a tree my sin stands/To darken all lands;/Death is the fruit it bore.”
She talks of how the wrong decision has led to a life of regret and destruction “I chose the Tree of Death.”
She pines for her old, happier life which would have brought joy to her children “God might have let thee stay/Safe in our garden.”
Denny Bradbury also looks at grief of a biblical figure in her recent song titled ‘We are alone within the night of loneliness’, to the tune of Londonderry Air. It’s from a short play she’s written dwelling on the life of Ruth from the Old Testament.
It’s a tender story of a daughter-in-law’s love for her mother in law after all their husbands or sons have died.  They travel back to Israel but one being very young decides to stay with her family in a foreign country.  We are alone within the night of loneliness is sung by all three women as the youngest prepares to leave them.
The grief of the three women is clear in Denny’s song, but unlike in Rosetti’s poem, there is hope. “we have not seen much light within the darkness/but we have God, he’s there for me and you”.
Whereas Eve in Rosetti’s poem wishes God could forgive her and turn back time, the daughter’s in Denny’s song know he’ll help them get through this tough period for them. “we will get by with every passing day/because we feel the love that is within us all”.
We are alone within the night of loneliness
we are alone within the night of loneliness
we have each been a wife and now we’re through
we have not seen much light amid the darkness
but we have God, he’s there for me and you
and this we know that though our lives are difficult
we will get by with every passing day
because we feel the love that is within us all
and so we smile and sleep and in our hearts we pray
Dear God do not let us go through more torment
we will be safe as long as we abide
with honour, gentleness and purest honesty
we each have love and live with God beside
My daughters
Dear Mother
we will always be together
as long as you both know that we are three
bonded in love, so know that we must leave here
(Naomi) go to your kin and love them as you have loved me
(Orpah) I will go back and find my long lost family
(Ruth) I will not go for you I’ll never ever leave

 

Amy Gerstler – In Perpetual Spring

15 Thursday May 2014

Posted by dennybradburybooks in Misc

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roses2010-0041.jpg

Gardens are also good places
to sulk. You pass beds of
spiky voodoo lilies
and trip over the roots
of a sweet gum tree,
in search of medieval
plants whose leaves,
when they drop off
turn into birds
if they fall on land,
and colored carp if they
plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal
human desire for peace
with every other species
wells up in you. The lion
and the lamb cuddling up.
The snake and the snail, kissing.
Even the prick of the thistle,
queen of the weeds, revives
your secret belief
in perpetual spring,
your faith that for every hurt
there is a leaf to cure it.

For Gerstler, being with nature gives a calming affect to humankind, letting stresses and strains go away: “the archetypal human desire for peace/with every other species wells up in you.”

She talks in In Perpetual Spring of how spring brings the idea of peace, and hope. It’s time for a new start, a fresh start, a hopeful start: “your secret belief/in perpetual spring,/your faith that for every hurt/there is a leaf to cure it.”

The freshness of spring and new life also gives hope that unlikely friendships could form, that even the most fearsome predator can be tamed. “The lion/and the lamb cuddling up./The snake and the snail, kissing.”

Yet this idea of Spring bringing peace and love isn’t shared by Denny Bradbury. In March Spring, she shows that it can be a letdown, “bumblebees awaken now to stumble out their food to find from early stems/of nectar sweet that disappoint and so too cold to fly they fall on path awhile”.

She tells of how humankind “watch and interfere” with nature’s cycle, rather than sitting back and appreciating it and letting us have hope as in Gerstler’s In Perpetual Spring. Instead of interfering, we should “learn that we’re here by chance/so let the world still turn in time”.

Spring is not so awesome now late flowering of an ageing soul
flowers bloom and sway and stay away from winds that blow too soon
too rough and with uncommon gusts send buds into defensive mood
leaves know not whether they should come and hang their pretty green
or keep within their safe cocoon till March to April warmth gives way

Birds build their nests as ever seen with twigs and grasses softly strewn
in branches not yet swathed in clothes that mean to hide their eggs by day
bumblebees awaken now to stumble out their food to find from early stems
of nectar sweet that disappoint and so too cold to fly they fall on path awhile
to gather sun which warms their wings so they can soar once more to sup
and gather all this instant cup of cheer and so back to nest and eggs to lay

this cycle round and round it goes and we just watch and interfere where
nature needs no help from those who ruin all by base degrees of selfish
harm when all we need to do is tread with lighter step upon the head
of this blue planet so designed to swirl through space as undefined
by human souls as it should be and we learn that we’re here by chance
so let the world still turn in time while we live on in humble rhyme

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