Back in January, I met up with my friend Sarah de Nordwall (a Bard with a Bardschool previously mentioned on this blog) in a pub above Kings Cross Station, with the purpose to start off a regular curated poetry evening. The vision was for an hour and a half of poetry, music, and art that was imbued with a Catholic spirit and was open to all (we’ve had some wonderful contributions from a chap who describes himself as an angry Buddhist). We got the name from a Jewish prayer, that goes “It is already night when joy begins.” Sarah learnt this prayer while sat around the fire on the Sabbath with some hermits she visited in Nova Scotia. The plan was that every 6 weeks we would host an evening of creative arts infused with a joy that provided respite from the troubles of the world and flowed out into our lives once we left. Artists would come together in the Bardschool a couple of times to share ideas and grow and be formed in their talents, before sharing their subcreations with anyone and everyone who wanted to come along to When Joy Begins.
We had really started to make progress on planning dates, finding a venue, and drawing in artists inspired by the vision – only for coronavirus and lockdown to happen. Not to be deterred, we did it on Zoom instead. The remarkable effort and skill that Sarah brought to curating the the talents of the poets, singers, musicians, painters, and authors culminated in a truly wonderful evening in late May, where strangers came together online to listen to beauty and truth and share their reflections with each other.
My role in all this was a fairly minor tech and organising part. I wrote this poem below to perform because I was under pressure, having requested all the Bardschool bring something nearly-finished to the final rehearsal for the first public When Joy Begins. It is based on a holiday I went on, having had one stanza of it rattling around my brain for about 10 months but had never really gone on to anything. (The power of deadlines in the creative process, eh?)
I have been reluctant to share it, but others have been poking me to do so. I hope it provides some reminder of the wonders we will share again once this whole crazy time is over, grants a brief escape from the still semi-quarantined lives we live at present, and inspires you to look again for the transcendent beauty that is bursting through your life.
Beauty is
Beauty is the light in Venice
Changing the city throughout the day.
The sunset on St. Mark’s mosaics,
Restaurant windows illuminating night
Beauty is a Slovenian church
With white walls and curved steeple
In a wide green valley,
Between tree-topped mountains.
Beauty is clear cool water
Drunk from an Alpine stream,
Cupped in the hands,
Raised to the lips.
Beauty is Plitvička jezera;
Water cascading between calm blue pools
through dazzling sunlight
Within a sheer canyon.
Beauty is Vrbnik at sunset;
Dinner on the cliff top
Overlooking the sea,
And a deserted beach.
Beauty is our arms entwined;
Yours brown, lissom, lovely,
Mine – pale and strong – speckled
With your kisses, and my freckles.
But most of all,
Beauty is the feel of home;
The dew on the grass,
Green and silver in the sunrise,
And the joy at a friend’s wedding.
I hope you got something from this. I hope it gave you a sense of travelling while at your laptop at home unable to leave, or a reminder of the beauty of someone you love who is far away.
Please get in touch. Whether you would like to come to When Joy Begins, become a bard in the Bardschool, or just talk to someone who has gone on retreat with the dancing hermits of Nova Scotia who take a vow of leisure, we’d love you to get in contact with us at bardschool@gmail.com. And, of course, please comment on and share this poem and blog, I’d love to hear from you.
Here is a list of websites and book titles of people who perform or present at When Joy Begins, they too would love to hear from you:
Chris Arning
https://chrisarning.weebly.com
Charlotte Harmer
Jim Hamilton
The Ironwood Staff, JE Hamilton – a fantasy novel available as an e-book or paperback from Amazon.
Sarah de Nordwall
“50 poems for my 50th: A Beginner’s Guide to Opening the World with Words” – a few copies are left on Amazon, but this and many more resources are available by contacting Sarah on bardschool@gmail.com or on her website https://sarahdenordwall.com/
The Empire Has Fallen 