What is a siren?

For those of you that do not read Homer or Virgil, sirens are characters in the Odyssey. They sang while ships passed, but they sang so well, no one could resist their songs' lure.

My all-girl band "Sirens' Song" has been writing and performing together for 14 years. We are currently recording our 3rd cd, 'Safe Harbour.'

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Big Reveal

This past weekend, Robert and Ryan and I stood on the front porch and watched the crescent moon finish the picture of fall. Jupiter and Venus are very close, and the southern sky is incredibly clear this time of year. Making three distinct shapes in the sky, so bright and beautiful.

When investigating the very bright stars, I discovered that Jupiter and Venus have been close before in history, so close they almost seem as one star. There is a christian scientist that has researched the time of Christ, showing that around the time of his birth, Jupiter and Venus were that close. If they were, it gives a scientific explanation of that 'star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright.'

I like to think though, that God might have created the planets simply to help announce the birth of His son, the saviour. It is much like a parent would decorate for a birthday party, or a new parent preparing a nursery. Perhaps He did not use the existing planets but prepared a special star. I like it that it is a mystery, and our wisdom cannot fathom the reasons, nor the preparation.

I also thought of the shepherds in the fields, late late that night. keeping watch over the flocks.

They are the first to know. The lowest, least educated people are informed first. and they are informed in the middle of the night, when the synagogue rabbis and the Roman soldiers and the royal Jewish families are sleeping.

So many of the realizations I have had came from times when I have been awake and all the world is sleeping. Something about the quiet of the night that makes the Spirits' voice loud and clear in my mind. Times I have to read and study usually occur at night, when the house is quiet and I am alone with my thoughts. The best songs are written then, the realizations I have about life and love. The quiet talks with God, the scriptures, the tears, and many revelations.

I have learned that those moments of insomnia are to be treasured, not dreaded. That winter can come and I can enjoy the cold wind on my face. Knowing that some of those long, cold, nights, the Spirit will nudge me awake, and I will see the Father's face.

Reveal

Jupiter and Venus are shining through my window
And its 2 a.m.
And I woke with the noise of silence all over
and I cant find a friend

for the worlds frozen over, and all of the clover
Is now a blanket of solid white.
so the sleep that was waiting for me
will wait a bit longer tonight

For tonight I am open and free
reveal it reveal it reveal it to me
Since I cannot see what you want me to be
Reveal it reveal it reveal it to me.

take me out of the familiar
and take my spirit high
So i can be ready right when you call
Like those shepherds on Xmas night

On the fourth watch of the night
wont you call to me?
I will hear your voice over the storm
and let me walk with you, out on the sea

Sometimes it seems like the night is held fast
and morning never comes
But I will hold fast to the hand of
the one and only risen Son.

For tonight I am open and free,
Reveal it reveal it reveal it to me
Since I cannot see what you want me to be
Reveal it reveal it reveal it to me
Reveal it reveal it reveal it to me.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Road

I am learning Italian. I bought the bullet and purchased software that uses visual cues. Plodding through the lessons, I realize that my grammar is atrocious. So it goes. But hoping that in the future I could ( at least,) read a bit of Italian, I continue.

My language quest is really about the future. The P.h.d I plan to pursue in the humanities. The dream trip to Rome and Venice and Florence that I plan to take with my hubby and son . The thought that perhaps, I might be able to read Giacomo Puccini's opera libretto in the
original language.

The saying "all roads lead to Rome" is appropriate for me, it is what I am planning for.

The challenge this week is "the road." So I must produce a song or live in shame. Mermaid #2 is already hard at work on her own "road."

Roads are so applicable to life. They are long, they are windy and you never know where there might be a dead end, or a sharp hairpin turn. Sometimes so smooth, like glass. Sometimes like driving in New Mexico. (ugh) Sometimes the google map is completely wrong and takes you the long way. Sometimes your Garmin is way off base. Sometimes you have to trust yourself to choose the road you need, and sometimes it is chosen for you.

The very unexpected aspect of the road draws us. Turn a corner in Rome and you will see modern apartments, but turn another corner and there is the Pantheon. The road to the Spanish steps is lined with mall-like stores. The roadways in Venice are water, and they are very dirty, but the next turn shows the Doge's palace dome. Whether mundane or marvelous, the road is something to be ventured.

Road trip, anyone?


The Road Knows

I asked the wind as I saw him on my way,
Where will you take me, and I heard him say
Oh, only the road knows.

I asked the trees in the forest of green
What do you think tomorrow might bring?
And the leaves shimmered…
“only the road knows.”

And the road, goes on and on
And the road, winds on and on
Singing never ending songs

I asked the sea, to search its’ depths for me
And find the answers that I was bent to seek
the waves crashed and I was told
Only the road knows.

I asked the stars shining above
Where would I go, and when would I find love?
And they called down to me
Go ask the road.

and the road, goes on and on
And the road, winds on and on

I asked the road to open up to me
Answer my question and give to me some peace,
But it sang, ‘follow me’
And you will know, just what the road knows.

And the road, goes on and on
And the road, goes on and on
Singing a never-ending song
Only the road knows.
Only the road knows.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Hope

What a funny little word to blog about. Four teeny tiny letters that keep us going, day in and day out. Whatever our religion, background or belief, hope is the one thing we all share.

We have started something new, and mermaid number 2 and I have decided to write weekly to get our songwriting chops back into shape. Each of us will take turns deciding a one word or phrase to write about, or an idea. Last weeks word was "glass" and my song was in my last blog. This weeks' word is harder, both to write about and to maintain, the word is "hope."

why is it that we are all so caught up in hope? You cant see it or touch it or feel it. Yet it is all around us and in everything we do.

When we are children, we hope for the future, we hope we are older, we hope for Xmas to come...right now! Time, though, has a way of changing that. Then we hope for others' future, hope for the world, hope for eternity. We live and learn and experience joy and pain. Yet hope remains as palpable at 50 and 60 and beyond as it did at 5 and 6.

As far as my life is concerned, only one thing has stood between me and hope, and never for long. It was my past. I could use the past to become bitter, as I have experienced terrible sadness and tragedy and physical pain. Or I could use the past as something to hold tightly to, as I have also experienced incredible joy, thrills, excitement and opportunities that few see.

I choose to hold to neither, but to live well for this day. Hope, it seems, must have its way.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast
Man never Is, but always To be blest
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come. -Alexander Pope,An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Let It Go

There is a gray cloud in my way
I saw it on the sidewalk as I stepped out today
And I heard it crying and raining down
And I couldn't pick my eyes up off of the ground.

But tomorrow is a new day
New hopes are rising and the gray clouds fade
And there is a better time coming, if I will be bold
Turn to the future before I grow cold

But I know, the winds are going to blow,
I'm going to leave the past and let it go.

The open box of Pandora's, started it all
she shut the lid quickly, then she heard a call,
something tapping on the inside, making us know
That hope must follow trouble, wherever it goes....

But I know, those winds are going to blow,
I'm going to leave the past and let it go.

Don't know if its wise, Dont really know at all..
But I am going to listen to hope, whenever she calls,
So if she comes knocking on your window tonight,
Tell her I will be waiting in the morning light...

Because I know, winds are going to blow
I'm going to leave the past and let it go.