HIDDEN LAKE, west shoreline |

THE LUTE is what I call a long-line sonnet; It's a love song to a beautiful instrument.

John Dowland (1563 – 1626) was the Shakespeare of lute. His art was a marriage of music, poetry and song of immense charm and subtlety, a tradition I'd very much like to see come back.

THE LUTE—a long-line sonnet

upon hearing Nigel North
play John Dowland

O come again sweet love, soft rounded belly of wood,
Resonance rich with bright stars and dark loam,
Pure instrument of the unseen platonic realm.
By what strange demonic twist of fate

Did your fine form fall into disfavor? Like a Queen,
Much beloved, yet banished to a far-away isle,
You've suffered eternities of turbulent seas,
Waves of sharp steel strings, of harsh amplified sounds.

So now:—come again sweet love, let us dare open
Your velvet protective case, let down your youthful braids,
And let the coming age find new spirit on your strings;

Let the recluse tune your pegs by mountain springs,
Poets find new rhythms to match your most dissonant chords,
And bards play to Kings bent on war, as you sing of peace.

| download THE LUTE mp3 [1.2 Mb] |

VIII.21.2009,
Camp Lost & Found,
Eagle Cap Wilderness

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