sunday poem and celebrating earth day

near the end of april

near the end of april

on the verge of may -

and o my heart, the woods were dusk

at the close of day.

half a word was spoken

out of half a dream,

and God looked in my soul and saw

a dawn rise and gleam.

near the end of april

twenty mays have met,

and half a word and half a dream

remember and forget.

by william stanley braithwaite (1878-1962)

 

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zoom church begins with this song each week . .  

 

and to celebrate earth day this morning (which was actually thursday), the first unitarian choir sang ombra mai fu (largo from xerxes, an opening aria from an opera by handel):

 

 

 we also sang blue boat home again, like we did last year . . here's the author of this version, peter mayer, singing for last year's earth day. (the tune is a hymn passed along through the years - known in the christian church as alleluia, sing to jesus, written by william dix around 1885).

though below me, i feel no motion,
standing on these mountains and plains.
far away from the rolling ocean,
still my dry land heart can say,
i've been sailing all my life now,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel,
and the earth is my blue boat home.
sun, my sail and moon, my rudder,
as i ply the starry sea.
leaning over the edge in wonder,
casting questions into the deep.
drifting here with my ship's companions,
all we kindred pilgrim souls.
making our way by the lights of the heavens,
in our beautiful blue boat home.
  i give thanks to the waves upholding me,
hail the great winds urging me on.
greet the infinite sea before me,
sing the sky my sailor's song.
i was born upon the fathoms,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel
and the earth is my blue boat home.

 

greg and i took a walk to merriweather cafe afterwards . . passing all the redbud trees which are now bloooming . . 

 we both ordered the "big brekkie" which we took home to eat . . (that's chanda and co-worker chris behind those masks)

the beaver believers documentary was reshown this evening . . i watched it again and chanda joined in also. they had a trivia game at the beginning which was fun, and i thought we did rather well.

earth day and morgan's show

 today was such a special day. first, it was earth day and we celebrated with brooklyn's first unitarian universalist congregation online; second, morgan performed a wonderful show via zoom that we had such fun seeing and participating in.

this morning's service was dedicated to acknowledging the work that has been done for helping to make the earth a healthier planet, and for recognizing that, of course, we still have so much to do. we sang one of my favorite songs, blue boat home by peter mayer. i searched for it just now to share it here, and found a youtube video that was just put up today from the first church in belmont, massachusetts, unitarian universalist. it's wonderful that all over the u. s., unitarian universalists were singing:

though below me, i feel no motion,
standing on these mountains and plains.
far away from the rolling ocean,
still my dry land heart can say,
i've been sailing all my life now,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel,
and the earth is my blue boat home.
sun, my sail and moon, my rudder,
as i ply the starry sea.
leaning over the edge in wonder,
casting questions into the deep.
drifting here with my ship's companions,
all we kindred pilgrim souls.
making our way by the lights of the heavens,
in our beautiful blue boat home.
  i give thanks to the waves upholding me,
hail the great winds urging me on.
greet the infinite sea before me,
sing the sky my sailor's song.
i was born upon the fathoms,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel
and the earth is my blue boat home.

----

at 1 pm, we gathered around chanda's computer for morgan's performance, created for their theatre program and shared via zoom (of course). it was cosmic, insightful, fun and poetically existential. i think everyone enjoyed being a part of it. maybe most important in this time of crisis, it felt hopeful while acknowledging the sadness that exists within us.

it took a little time at the beginning for everyone to gather and to figure out the logistics of zoom in terms of setting up the viewing boxes, but it was eventually accomplished and the performance could begin. i have snippets here . . i think the full piece was recorded, so maybe i'll include it another day.

morgan invited everyone to either draw, sing or record thoughts while watching, if one wanted to.

we're all under the same sky . . in our blue boat home.

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 i also made pasta, again, tonight for dinner . .

 with just spelt flour and water . . 

and the sage almond pesto sauce.