#21 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Saturday May 8)
Good morning and happy weekend,
POETRY
If You Forget Me
By Pablo Neruda
I want you to know
one thing.
You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.
If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.
But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.
MUSIC
A number of friends had their favorite folk songs based on work and the labor movement. Here are a select few (with more folk music in a couple of weeks).
First, Jesse Sharf’s favorite version of “Sixteen Tons,” sung by The Platters: https://youtu.be/keXcDRT7jb4. Loved it!
Paul Kanin suggested “St. Augustine,” with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez: https://youtu.be/UWc2e5KRq-4. This really reminds me of how talented was the great Joan Baez. I also think this is one of the last tunes sung on key by Bob.
Finally, from Adam Torson, the inimitable Lisa Simpson and “They Have the Plant but We Have the Power”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBD6aQ0AMhs. And yes, it includes Homer and a little Classical Gas.
Have a great day,
Glenn