MEME EXPRESS
http://memeexpress.blogspot.com/2009/05/swinging-on-star.html
asks us to write on the theme SWINGING ON A STAR.
Well, I swung on several!
GRAND ORCHESTRATION
They talked about Pythagorus. I heard his name for years;
They linked him with geometry which, of course, bored me to tears!
A school-girl, sprouting hormones, is more inclined to dream
Of the schoolboys in the school next door, than some great cosmic scheme!
I did my best with theorems, they just had to be learned,
But they were pretty useless, and no great passion burned!
So much of the talk washed over me till just one phrase jumped out!
'The Music of the Spheres' they said! Now, what was that about?
*
Pythagorus thought that numbers created harmony,
And a mathematical formula gave rise to melody.
He declared this universal, and said it must be true,
That the planets in their orbits created music too.
Mankind was deaf to the music, so the great man said,
Because it was so evil and because its soul was dead.
He declared that only goodness could make men hear the sound
Which was humming in the cosmos and whirling all around.
*
Now, knowing I was faultless and a being of great worth
I felt that I was qualified, of all the folk on earth,
To hear the magic music that was hovering in the sky.
I would listen! I would give this grand idea a thorough try.
So I hovered every night the sky was starry bright and clear,
Straining my ears to hear the notes I knew that I should hear.
Nothing! Just Sounds of Silence! And I was under-awed!
In fact I felt Pythagorus was nothing but a fraud!
*
But lo! I waited sixty years and then at last I heard
'The Music of the Spheres'! And, yes, I know it sounds absurd!
One night on the radio a scientist declared
That the 'Echo of the Big Bang' could be listened to and shared.
He played recorded 'tinklings', like iron-filings dropped on glass,
And I was back in my girlhood, in my Mathematics class!
Maybe I've grown immensely good with the passing of the years!
I only know that I have heard 'The Music of the Spheres'!
*
They talked about Pythagorus. I heard his name for years;
They linked him with geometry which, of course, bored me to tears!
A school-girl, sprouting hormones, is more inclined to dream
Of the schoolboys in the school next door, than some great cosmic scheme!
I did my best with theorems, they just had to be learned,
But they were pretty useless, and no great passion burned!
So much of the talk washed over me till just one phrase jumped out!
'The Music of the Spheres' they said! Now, what was that about?
*
Pythagorus thought that numbers created harmony,
And a mathematical formula gave rise to melody.
He declared this universal, and said it must be true,
That the planets in their orbits created music too.
Mankind was deaf to the music, so the great man said,
Because it was so evil and because its soul was dead.
He declared that only goodness could make men hear the sound
Which was humming in the cosmos and whirling all around.
*
Now, knowing I was faultless and a being of great worth
I felt that I was qualified, of all the folk on earth,
To hear the magic music that was hovering in the sky.
I would listen! I would give this grand idea a thorough try.
So I hovered every night the sky was starry bright and clear,
Straining my ears to hear the notes I knew that I should hear.
Nothing! Just Sounds of Silence! And I was under-awed!
In fact I felt Pythagorus was nothing but a fraud!
*
But lo! I waited sixty years and then at last I heard
'The Music of the Spheres'! And, yes, I know it sounds absurd!
One night on the radio a scientist declared
That the 'Echo of the Big Bang' could be listened to and shared.
He played recorded 'tinklings', like iron-filings dropped on glass,
And I was back in my girlhood, in my Mathematics class!
Maybe I've grown immensely good with the passing of the years!
I only know that I have heard 'The Music of the Spheres'!
*
4 comments:
Oh Brenda, this is wonderful! I truly enjoyed this and will read it again!
Alovely poem.
A lot effort put into it, that shows.
Thank you for sharing it.
You not only hear it - you sing it - beautiful :)
You've caught the 'tinklings'
So well in your 'rinklings'...!!!!
Oho... Pythagorus bored the school girls, is it?
Perhaps it would've woken them up if he had said...
If a girl and a boy were each squared, a romantic diagonal would blossom and square them up :)))
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