Now Is Darkness (new words for "Ode to Joy")
March 29, 2020

I got inspired by an amazing documentary Following the Ninth, which explores the various ways which Beethoven's music has inspired people since it was written.

Basically, what I tried to do was write what the music of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" means to me. I don't know German, and the English translation "Joy, Thou Goddess" of Schiller's words seems stiff and stilted, even for a "Goddess worshipper" like me.

Billy Bragg's new lyrics are a worthy attempt, but I wanted my own.

I just wanted some words to which most people could relate. Well, that is my aim. Whether or not I've succeeded won't be known until later in time, when the people then will know more than I.

_Now Is Darkness_

1. Now is darkness, soon the light comes.
Hope inside us still is bright.
Seeds are planted which will burst forth green and strong and beautiful.
Nourish lovingly our dreams now.
Father God will bless our work,
Mother God will hold us close and show us what we need and how.

2. Step by step the process daily
'til the prize is surely won.
Each of us was born not knowing hatred's evil misery
Fear can shrivel heart's embracing
But what heals is love's kindness.
Each day brings a chance to start again no matter how we sing.

Joan Lansberry, 3-29-2020
(Amended last line 4-4-2020,
"Each day brings a chance to start again this noble task we sing" just didn't flow right.
Changing it to "no matter how we sing" seems to inject a bit of needed humor?)

Go Back to "What Shall I Do with this Day?" (Response to a Letter)
Go to INDEX of Newest Entries of Markings Of My Path
Go forward to Scene in Greens, Pinks and Golds
© Joan Ann Lansberry: