Last night I held my sweet, little grandson in the crook of my arm. Together we watched the green stars shining on the ceiling of his darkened room. I began singing, and he watched me instead of the stars. I felt like the center of the universe.
I've been trying to call back to mind the songs I sang to my own babies just before bedtime and find that I've lost a lot of words. They will come back, but there are stretches of hums in most of my lullabies these days.
As I wondered what to post for St. Patrick's Day, I remembered the Irish lullaby, "Too-Ra, Loo-Ra, Loo-Ral." It was a song I sang way back when. Written in 1913 for the Tin Pan Alley musical, the song was a hit from the start. When Bing Crosby sang it in 1944 in Going My Way, the record single sold over a million copies, according to Wikipedia.
With a Bing Crosby fan in the house (hubs), my Pandora account is often tuned the Bing Crosby channel. And yes, I've seen Going My Way more than once.
I hope you enjoyed you day celebrating the saint.
I hope you wore green and didn't get pinched.
Enjoy this version of the lullaby, and then read an excerpt from St. Patrick's most famous poem, called "St. Patrick's Breastplate."
I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.
I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
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And one last thing before I go. Balloons Literary Journal, Volume five is live and I have two poems in it! I'm delighted to be in this lovely book. More on this next week.
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What a lovely memory of you with your grandson. I can remember making up new words to lullabies when my girl was a baby.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed hearing about your special time with your wee grandbaby! The video was marvelous.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the poems in the journal, Doraine. I'm glad you had that time with your sweet grand baby. My mother sang that song to me when I was young, still remember it. My favorite for mine was "hush little baby, don't say a word. . ." Love the video extra!
ReplyDeleteI love that picture of your little grandson, studying your face as you lullabied him. I too love that St. Patrick's Breastplate poem... so rich and inspirational. And congratulations on the poems in Balloons!! (I found them in the online copy:)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on those beautiful poems. Your blue Olds brought back memories of dozing in the back of my parent's buick on long trips. Vinyl seats, country music on the radio, and endless white dashes, pelting past.
ReplyDeleteI love the description of watching you as you sang/hummed! It is hard to remember those little songs sung to your own, though I think I hummed bits of those, too! Congratulations on your poems going live!
ReplyDeleteSwooon - what a precious shared moment. And thanks for sharing with us, along with those Irish Tenors. (Congrats on the poems, too!)
ReplyDeleteYour blog is linked to day to mine for the “Found Poem” Scavenger Hunt! I've used a line.
ReplyDeletehttp://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2017/03/scavenger-hunt-for-world-poetry-day.html
Happy World Poetry Day!
A belated thanks for your lovely music and poem Dori, I've been battling a sinus infection all week and still getting around to the PF posts! Hope you had a rich St. Patty's day!
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