“Dayenu” It Is Enough! #Passover #Music #Mp3

Download Mp3

Here is a Passover song, popular at Jewish-American seders. It’s arranged for a small, 15-string zither, and you may
contact me
for a free tutorial if you want to learn it by ear.

I first heard this song in an Elementary School music class. At the time I didn’t know its significance, but I loved it. The next time I heard it was during a self-study Hebrew course, when I purchased CD’s of Jewish children’s music. I’ve always found music and singing to be helpful in learning languages. I’d forgotten about the song in the intervening years, but it showed up again when I was looking for Passover music. My heart leapt, “I remember that song!”

As this
history
points out, “It’s rare to hear people say, when commenting on a blessing in their lives, “It’s enough.”

Don’t miss this fun version by the Maccabeats:

Whether you’re celebrating Passover or not, may you realize, not intellectually but spiritually, that wherever you are and whatever you have right now, it’s enough!

For the Birds #Poem #Music #Meditation

Download Meditation Mp3

Here’s a musical meditation on zither, and a Tritina (poem) that is as much for us as it is for the birds!

Through your singing you speak
Sharing peace, hope and love
With your tweets and warbles.

But it’s not just your warbles
It’s the message you speak
Can it teach me to love?

Do you know hate? No, love!
Must I learn your warbles
So I can gently speak?

Or can I speak love without warbles?

“This Is My Father’s World” #Music #Mp3

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You’ve probably heard this well-known hymn in praise of the vast world of nature that God created. Maltbie Davenport Babcock, a minister, wrote the lyrics as a 16-stanza poem. It was first published in 1901, after his death.

In 1915, Franklin L. Sheppard chose 3 verses for the hymn and set them to the tune “Terra Beata,” meaning “Blessed Earth” in Latin.

Please enjoy my lyre arrangement, and feel free to download and share the mp3!

Sing Praises #Poem

Sing praises to the Christ within!

The Life and Consciousness you are,

Eternal Love in which you live.

Sing praises to the Christ within!

No matter what and where you’ve been,

Your Spirit is the One and All.

Sing praises to the Christ within!

The Life and Consciousness you are!

A Metaphysical Triolet for Palm Sunday and NaPoWriMo day 5.

Palm Sunday Playlist #Music

Here are 4 original songs I posted when I wrote them. Two are definitely Palm Sunday offerings, while the other two are a little more obscure. “Love Is a Coconut” is a fun song about the one thing that opens and lifts hearts or anything else–love. “So It Goes” is a song about time . Good times, bad times, in between times, time is a constant, and it constantly passes! Something we’d do well to remember right now. Please enjoy these tunes, and have a blessed and peaceful Palm Sunday!

The Mirror of Poetry #Poem

A poet is the face of every poem,
And words reflect the surface on the page.
We’re missing all the stuff of life it comes from;
The words are masks the poet wears on stage.

Disguises, good or bad, of hearts so aching
And minds that pray the next word is a cure.
When glass facades grow thin enough for breaking,
I promise you the pieces hide still more.

From thoughts so pure or lifetimes interrupted,
We read the lines of laughter and of tears.
Some ramble on while others end abruptly,
And who are we to judge what work appears?

Of all our hellish hats and worried ways,
The mirror of our poetry is safe!

—
A poet’s poem, a Sonnet for day 4 of NaPoWriMo!