A song both happy and sad, both bright and dark. No name

Do we have for this round of thirds that is Nature's way...

SONGS OF A WAYFARER—a long-line sonnet

On a way—a dark and misty way—stands a Linden tree.
It is the first day of Fall, but its leaves are still green.
The crown of the tree fills its space with a thousand
Rivulets and rills shading off into the limitless morning gray.

It is the first day of Fall, and a young man stops
To rest under the tree. He has been here before,
But the way and mist and day seem darker than in the past.
He takes a small wooden flute to play the great Linden a song,

A song both happy and sad, both bright and dark. No name
Do we have for this round of thirds that is Nature's way,
No name do we have for the sounds of fresh Spring,

Or the bare ground of frozen Winter. And so we must sing,
Must sing ourselves back into the wholeness of the World.
It is the first day of Fall: O such sadness, such joy.

[upon hearing Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen,
4th movement, Die Zwei Blauen Augen Von Meinem Schatz, sung
by Dietrich-Fischer Dieskau, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks,
Rafael Kubelik, conducting]

| listen to / download WAYFARER mp3 [ 2 Mb] |
[Windows: r click; Mac: opt + click] |

| listen to the 4th movement of Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer [9.8 Mb] }

| go to another quartet of sonnets [with intto & rcordings } |

IX.23.2010
Marias Pass,
above West Glacier, Montana,
after an early Fall storm