Message #7666 Wed Feb 6, 2008 5:38 am
Here we are, well into February, just a number of days from Valentine’s Day, but nobody has yet announced some kind of contest, as we’ve sometimes had in the past, to mark that day, which this time occurs on a leap year, yet. I have a contest in mind. Those who join will submit short passages from literature – not much longer than a sonnet, please – that the submitter considers to be the best expressions of romantic love that he/she has seen on a printed page. The judge for the contest will choose what he/she believes to be the best piece submitted. The winner gets a prize, which, as the proponent of the contest this year, I’ll provide – of course it will just be a token prize & may not even have monetary value. The winning itself is a prize, anyway! Who will be the judge? To simplify matters, I will be the judge, unless there’s any objection to this & the objector offers to do the job of getting another judge or judges. Deadline? Let’s set it tentatively at 12:00 Midnight, Feb. 14, GMT (London standard time); tentatively, because there may be reasonable requests for extension – some who wish to join may want to make a final choice or choices (more than one entry may be submitted by a contestant but - in the spirit of the contest – not too many, please) after they’re more “into the spirit of the contest” after a Valentine Day’s date! Qualified to join are all members of the UpscaLoop & of Poetswannabe. I have posted below my entries to the contest, although if I remain the judge, I won’t qualify to be the winner.
1) Lines from Elizabeth Barrett Browining’s “How Do I Love Thee?”
… …
I love thee to the length and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
Of the ends of being and of ideal grace.
-------
2) Lines spoken by Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, as she awaits the coming of night, for the expected visit of Romeo after they had gotten secretly married, earlier that day, at Friar Lawrence’s cell:
… … …
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d Night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
… …. ….
3) Lines written by Rainier Maria Rilke: (translated)
Did we meet at the bridge of time
Only to ‘change greetings and depart?
…. …. ….
English majors, review your texts! Reps of Ateneo (Erwin, Tigi, Bert S., Ed M., others (?) – aren’t there great lines from the wooing of Roxanne by Cyrano (as another persona) from beneath the balcony, in Cyrano de Bergerac, a play that the Ateneo, in the old days, famously used to present from time to time?
Shd I have included in my "contingent entries" that line near the end of Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios" -
"Adios, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegria"
... .... ...?
It's context is very touching, but in this contest beauty in literary expression must be paramount.
Send entries to Upscaloop@yahoogroups.com, w/ the title “Valentine’s Day Contest” or something similar
Ruben
Message #7674 Thu Feb 7, 2008 10:10 a.m.
Hi, Ruben.
The last time you hosted a similar contest I won hands down, possibly because mine was the only entry. This time, I'll give a chance to the competition. I shan't submit lines by Shakespeare, or Browning, or Neruda. In fact, since my choice is from a Hollywood movie, you could disqualify it as insufficiently literary. Still, here it is. Lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, set to a melody by Michel Legrand:
What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and south and east and west of your life?
I have only one request of your life:
That you spend it all with me.
All the seasons and the times of your days,
All the nickels and the dimes of your days,
Let the reasons and the rhymes of your days
All begin and end with me.
I want to see your face in every kind of light;
In fields of dawn and forests of the night.
And when you stand before the candles on a cake,
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make.
Those tomorrows waiting deep in your eyes,
All the world of love you keep in your eyes,
I'll awaken what's asleep in your eyes.
(It may take a kiss or two.)
Through all of my life,
Summer, winter, spring and fall of my life,
All I ever will recall of my life
Is all of my life with you.
JOng
Message# 7675 Thu Feb 7, 2008 12:11 pm
It's about time we joined our children in the electronic age. I suggest that, to win the virtual prize, Jong (or whoever) should film himself on youtube so we can watch him sing and dance "What are you doing the rest of your life?" Otherwise, his punishment will be that he has to film himself on youtube so we can watch him sing and dance "What are you doing the rest of your life?" Hehe. LOL.
Isagani
Message #7676 Feb 7, 2008 10:09 pm
To counteract JOng's atrocity, here's my equally tortured entry:
The Proposal
by Norman Luboff
Barma says je vous aime pour tu Marie
How I want to marry you
Never, never have I proposed before
What I tell you is true
Barma says je vous aime pour tu Marie
How I want to marry you
I can promise most happy life with me
If you answer "I do"
I travel over mountain and hill
I even sail the tropical sea
I never feel excitement until
You look in the direction of me
Now the situation is clear
No more travelling will I do
Because I have a romantic idee
And you know it's all about you
I'll build a house for you in the sun
And from the window we'll see the moon
We'll be the envy of ev'ryone
And we'll be more than two very soon
Barma says je vous aime pour tu Marie
How I want to marry you
Never, never have I proposed before
What I tell you is true
Barma says je vous aime pour tu Marie
How I want to marry you
I can promise most happy life with me
If you answer "I do"
If anybody else sends in another entry, I believe you should listen, then shoot him and put him out of his misery.
Johnny
Message #7677 Fri 8Feb 2008 5:01 p.m.
What's all this about? I'm stuck at the lobby of a Cebu hotel so to get a hotspot for my laptop, just an hour or so before we meet with some high school 59ers. So allow me to add some corn: I submit Edgar A. Poe's Annabel Lee. I don't have the time to type it all down now (I think I know it from memory, nor look at the internet if I falter) and I presume most of you do. But for the stanza which goes:
"For the moon never beams
without giving dreams
of my beautiful Annabel Lee"
Allow me to transpose the letters thus:
"For the doon never meams
without giving me breams"
(This idea came about years ago when my boss got pissed off at the requirement to stencil the company's pick-up truck with "Not For Hire" logo and told me to transpose the first letters of each word. Do try it.
Is this what the contest is all about?
Duh-Knee
Message #7679 Fri Feb 8, 2008 8:06 am
I'll join Cynthia in submitting lyrics likewise that seem quite appropriate in extolling the universality of love and all its mysterious charm beyond geographiy, race or time . . .
Everybody Loves Somebody (Lyrics by Taylor/Lane) Song Interpretations by Sinatra, Dean Martin & a few more
Everybody loves somebody sometime
Everybody falls in love somehow
Something in your kiss just told me
My sometime is now
Everybody loves somebody someplace
There's no telling where love may appear
Something in my heart keeps saying
My someplace is here
If I had it in my power
I'd arrange for every girl to have your charm
Then every minute, every hour
Every boy would find what I found in your arms
Everybody loves somebody sometime
And although my dream was overdue
Your love made it well worth waiting
For someone like you
Chit
Message #7680 Fri Feb 8, 2008 8:13 am
My entry is: My Funny Valentine
My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet youre my favourite work of art
Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But dont change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day
Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But dont you change one hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day
Bert
Message #7681 Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:15 am
Ani, I sing in the shower. Put that on Youtube, you get a porn site.
JOng
Message #7683 Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:57 am
We have some very creative people in this loop and if they have the time and inclination, maybe they can do a video of a young girl dancing and swaying while a voice in the background recites Lord Byron's "She walks in beauty."
George Gordon, Lord Byron
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Cesar
Message #7684 Fri Feb 8, 2008 12:03 pm
My entry and my song to my valentine Bernie N.
as sung by the three tenors:
Three Tenors singing "O sole mio"
mio"...Three Tenors singing "O sole mio"...three tenors ...
2 min 12 sec -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3zHEtL0T4
Neapolitan Italian Text
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole,
n'aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe' ll'aria fresca pare giï¿1⁄2 na festa...
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole.
Ma n'atu sole
cchiï¿1⁄2 bello, oje ne'.
O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
O sole
O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
Quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne,
me vene quase 'na malincunia;
sotto 'a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e 'o sole se ne scenne.
Ma n'atu sole
cchiï¿1⁄2 bello, oje ne'.
O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
O sole
O sole mio
sta 'nfronte a te!
sta 'nfronte a te!
English Translation
What a wonderful thing a sunny day
The serene air after a thunderstorm
The fresh air, and a party is already going onï¿1⁄2
What a wonderful thing a sunny day.
But another sun,
thatï¿1⁄2s brighter still
Itï¿1⁄2s my own sun
thatï¿1⁄2s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
Itï¿1⁄2s in your face!
Itï¿1⁄2s in your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I start feeling blue;
Iï¿1⁄2d stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
But another sun,
thatï¿1⁄2s brighter still
Itï¿1⁄2s my own sun
thatï¿1⁄2s in your face!
The sun, my own sun
Itï¿1⁄2s in your face!
Itï¿1⁄2s in your face!
Tony
Message #7687 Fri Feb 8, 2008 12:33 pm
Chris Botti on trumpet playing My Funny Valentine. Tony, dim the lights, have your glass of Merlot ready, enjoy this on your Surround Sound System.
http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=M51UqyWpYko&feature=related
Bert
Message# 7688 Fri Feb 8, 2008 12:53 pm
Thanks Bert but not my cup of tea or even glass of merlot
I prefer the gendre of sole mio or even beso mi mucho... you have to feel the excitement and "desire" as you listen to the three tenors or Luciano shout their expresssions of love...
Tony
Message #7689 Fri Feb 8, 2008 6:17 pm
my serious entry
thx tony, ever the romantic!!
to ruben: here is an entry from the wintry rockies....
Sweet Peril
by George Macdonald
Alas, how easily things go wrong!
A sigh too much, or a kiss too long,
And there follows a mist and a weeping rain,
And life is never the same again.
Alas, how hardly things go right!
'Tis hard to watch in a summer night,
For the sigh will come, and the kiss will stay,
And the summer night is a wintry day.
And yet how easily things go right,
If the sigh and a kiss of a summer's night
Come deep from the soul in the stronger ray
That is born in the light of the winter's day.
And things can never go badly wrong
If the heart be true and the love be strong,
For the mist, if it comes, and the weeping rain
Will be changed by the love into sunshine again.
Erlinda
Message #7690 Fri Feb 8, 2008 8:21 pm
C'mon, Johnny, no fair! Your're wrecking the contest, promising to shoot anbody else who sends an entry. I thought it was Tony N. who was into shooting. If I follow your suggestion, the contest will be only between you & JOng, & in judging it I'll face a dilemna: how shd I approach the judging? To think of which is better, or to think of which is worse? But seriously, your respective entries are quite good, & unusual at that, & do deserve posting on the Loop, if I may speak on behalf of the others
Ruben
Message #7691 Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:01 pm
Tony - sharing w/ you & others an old joke of mine: If in a concert a tenor sings "O Sole Mio" badly & you're in the audience & had paid for a ticket, you should go to the Manager & say, "O, sole pera!"
Ruben
Message # 7692 Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:11 pm
Thanks, Rubén. "The Proposal" sounds better sung than recited, but I'm no good at either:
http://acappella.colormaria.com/6552C/6552C%5EThe_Proposal.mp3
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1010194/a/Calypso+Holiday%2FSongs+Of+Christmas.htm
I second your motion to close the submission of entries now.
Regards.
Johnny
Message #7693 Fri Feb 8, 2008 9:42 pm
The lyrics of the song as shown farther down below are a transcription by somebody who just listened to the record and wrote down what he thought he heard, resulting in, I believe, an error: In the line, "Barma says je vous aime pour tu Marie," I strongly suspect "Barma says...." is really "Mademoiselle...."
A similar topic comes to mind: I have a tape which I bought in Makati some years ago of Elvis songs sung by an unknown Filipino (the band probably used Elvis' accompaniment after erasing the vocals). The songs are perfect copies of the originals, down to every pause and every change of pitch (just like Nick Lizaso doing Henry Higgins). But the singer commits two revealing errors: He says, "You ain't nothin' but a hound dawg, rockin' all the time," instead of "trackin' all the time," and "Send it to the store, and let's buy some more," instead of "Send to the store."
Johnny
Message #7694 Fri Feb 8, 2008 10:58 pm
like the pun on La Donna e mobile....hindi mabili may amag pa sa tabi...from Rigoletto
as sung by Luciano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3zetSuYRg
Italian Text
La donna ï¿1⁄2 mobile
Qual piuma al vento,
Muta d'accento ï¿1⁄2 e di pensiero.
Sempre un amabile,
Leggiadro viso,
In pianto o in riso, ï¿1⁄2 ï¿1⁄2 menzognero.
ï¿1⁄2 sempre misero
Chi a lei s'affida,
Chi le confida ï¿1⁄2 mal cauto il cuore!
Pur mai non sentesi
Felice appieno
Chi su quel seno ï¿1⁄2 non liba amore!
English Translation of "La donna e mobile"
Woman is flighty
Like a feather in the wind,
She changes her voice ï¿1⁄2 and her mind.
Always sweet,
Pretty face,
In tears or in laughter, ï¿1⁄2 she is always lying.
Always miserable
Is he who trusts her,
He who confides in her ï¿1⁄2 his unwary heart!
Yet one never feels
Fully happy
Who on that bosom ï¿1⁄2 does not drink love!
Tony
Message #7695 Fri Feb 8, 2008 11:02 pm
the three tenors singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfJyiGmVuo0&feature=related
Tony
Message #7696 Fri Feb 8, 2008 11:05 pm
I was going to send this to the loop even without the contest. Might as well join everyone else and post it now.
The poem is by Thomas Moore, 19th century Irish poet. The language is a bit archaic, and some folks may find the sentiments outdated. But because it has endured as a much-loved folksong (set to an existing melody, and accompanied by bagpipes and harps), the thoughts in it may ring true. Not really about romantic love, but more about abiding love, like that of my parents.
Joni James sings this beautifully (I think). But the Mp3 file of her version is too large, and couldn't go through the loop's limits. If anyone wants to receive a copy of her version (courtesy of The CyberDJ), let me know and I will send it to your individual email address. Otherwise, you can listen to YouTube's a cappella version.
http://www.youtube.com/v/YtCNnyxlJt0&rel=1">
http://www.youtube.com/v/YtCNnyxlJt0&rel=1">
Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms
by Thomas Moore
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairie-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose!
Lili
Message# 7699 Sat Feb 9, 2008 12:29 am
i think that you poem is in my book, Best Loved Poems...
actually, i also sent in my own entry for this valentine contest,
attempted twice, but i am surprised that it has not been received
at all....
anyway, it is a serious poem, too
Sweet Peril
by George Macdonald
there are many stanzas but this last stanza is the most meaningful
and carries the main message of love.
"And things can never go badly wrong
If the heart be true and the love be strong,
For the mist, if it comes, and weeping rain
Will be changed by the love into sunshine again."
3 stanzas precede this.....
Erlinda
Message# 7700 Sat Feb 9, 2008 12:43 am
a serious poem..
with ruben's permission: i might as well complete the full
poem, to satisfy my failed two earlier attempts some days ago:
Sweet Peril
by George Macdonald
Alas, how easily things go wrong!
A sigh too much, or a kiss too long,
And there follows a mist and a weeping rain,
And life is never the same again.
Alas, how hardly things go right!
'Tis hard to watch in a summer night,
For the sigh will come, and the kiss will stay,
And the summer night is a wintry day.
And yet how easily things go right,
If the sigh and a kiss of a summer's night
Come deep from the soul in the stronger ray
That is born in the light of the winter's day.
And things can never go badly wrong
If the heart be true and the love be strong,
For the mist, if it comes, and the weeping rain
Will be changed by the love into sunshine again.
Erlinda
Message #7701 Sat Feb 9, 2008 2:34 am
Try this beautiful Mozart / da Ponte aria from "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Deh vieni, non tardar". As usual, It sounds better in Italian, esp. since the English translation is somewhat rough around the edges -- but still the passionate imagery comes through.
I attached the version by Dawn Upshaw, one of the best Susannas I've listened to. Warning: large file. If you can't handle the large file, settle for the slightly inferior YouTube copy at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcIYwIaQgX4
Deh vieni, non tardar, o gioja bella
Vieni ove amore per goder t'appella
Finche non splende in ciel notturna face
Finche l'aria e ancor bruna,
E il mondo tace.
Qui mormora il ruscel, qui scherza l'aura
Che col dolce susurro il cor ristaura
Qui ridono i fioretti e l'erba e fresca
Ai piaceri d'amor qui tutto adesca.
Vieni, ben mio, tra queste piante ascose.
Vieni, vieni!
Ti vo' la fronte incoronar di rose.
Translation: Oh, come, don't be late, my beautiful joy
Come where love calls you to enjoyment
Until night's torches no longer shine in the sky
As long as the air is still dark
And the world quiet.
Here the river murmurs and the light plays
That restores the heart with sweet ripples
Here, little flowers laugh and the grass is fresh
Here, everything entices one to love's pleasures
Come, my dear, among these hidden plants.
Come, come!
I want to crown you with roses.
Text by Lorenzo da Ponte
Translation by Naomi Gurt Lind
OOPS. I am resending this because YahooGroups refused to send the 6MB attachment in my initial transmission (though Ruben and Tony may have received it). Also, I revised the layout of the lyrics and translation, because the two groups of texts got mixed together in transmission.
Sorry. If anyone still wants the good quality mp3 copy (6.8 MB), let me know, and I will send it individually to those interested.
Erwin
Message #7702 Sat 9 Feb 2008
Ruben,
lest you think I will sing to Bernie N like Luciano, watch this one...I will sing more like Bryan Adams... who is singing duet with Luciano....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEkHmTuWRIE&feature=related
Tony
Message #7703 Sat feb 9, 2008 3:18 am
One of my favorite bands, Queen with Lucicano, unfortunately Freddie was not Around anymore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7FGPIRJx6I&feature=related
Tony
Message#7704 Sat Feb 9, 2008 7:15 am
Tony, this version of your song, you can enjoy with a cup of saki.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWLEyx0qPzM
Bert
Message #7705 Sat Feb 9, 2008 9:03 am
I think we've all been bitten by the February bug. Love it. Here's another non-entry (Edit Piaf's La Vie en Rose - 1954):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-sUzR71wpQ
Cesar
Message #7706 Sat Feb 9, 2008 6:36 pm
Rubén,
Here's my second and last entry -- actually a double treat: two poems from the great Antoine Dominique. Note the intensity of feeling and the subtlety of the words.
Let the Four Winds Blow
I like the way you walk
I like the way you talk
Let me hold your hand
Try to understand
I want a girl like you
Tell my love is true
Don't be afraid
You've heard what I said
Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
From the east to the west
I love you the best
Let the four winds blow
Let it blow and a-blow
From the east to the west
I love you the best
I'm In Love Again
Yes it's me and I'm in love again
Had no lovin' since you know when
You know I love you, yes I do
And I'm savin' all my lovin' just for you
Need your lovin' and I need it bad
Just like a dog when he's goin' mad
Woo-ee baby, woo-oo-ee
Baby won't you give your love to me?
Eenie meenie and miney-mo
Told me you don't want me around no more
Woo-ee baby, woo-oo-ee
Baby don't you let your dog bite me
Johnny
PS: When are you going to close the contest? The earlier the better -- to limit the damage.
Message#7707 Sat Feb 9, 2008 6:48 pm
I know the song, Lili. I learned it in grade school. In fact, I can sing it (the first stanza) to you from memory.
Bopeep
Message #7708 Sat Feb 9, 2008 6:57 pm
It's "Hopiang di mabili, may amag sa tabi".
Bopeep
Message #7709 Sat Feb 9, 2008 8:48 pm
Thanks how can I forget Hopiang may amag sa tabi.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Tony
Message #7710 Sat Feb 9, 2008 10:31 pm
I have seen many translations of this poem, but what I remember is the one from Miss Dadufalza's English class. Unfortunately, I don't know whose translation this is. Maybe the poets in the loop know?
Liebes-Lied
a poem by
Rainer Maria Rilke
Wie soll ich meine Seele halten, daß
sie nicht an deine rührt? Wie soll ich sie
hinheben über dich zu andern Dingen?
Ach gerne möchte ich sie bei irgendetwas
Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen
an einer fremden stillen Stelle, die
nicht weiterschwingt, wenn diene Tiefen schwingen.
Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,
die aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.
Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?
Und welcher Geiger hat uns in der Hand?
O süßes Lied.
Love Song
When my soul touches yours, a great chord sings
How shall I tune it then to other things?
Oh, that some spot in darkness could be found
That does not vibrate whenever your depths sound.
But everything that touches you and me
Welds us as played strings sound one melody.
Where is the instrument whence the sounds flow?
And whose the master hand that holds the bow?
Oh, sweet song.
Lili
Message #7711 Sat Feb 9, 2008 10:49 pm
I thought it was "Hopiang di mábilí, Tarzan di ma_ _ _"?
Sent via Sinigwelas from Patriot Media
Johnny
Message #7715 Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:20 am
Hi RUben,
Which do you think is the better entry:
1) WHere love is, there truth and beauty are one
2) WHere truth and beauty are one, there love is.
Mercy
PS And for my last entry, try Jeanette Macdonald and
NElson Eddy
(1935)
Ah! Sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee
Ah! At last I know the secret of it all
All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning
The burning hopes, the joys and idle tears that fall
For tis love and love along the world is seeking
And it's love and love alone I've waited for
And my heart has heard the answer to its calling
For it is love that rules forever more.
Sang by my grandma; sang by Atty Tony Pastor. It is in Utube
Mercy
Message #7717 Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:22 pm
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=19801
Isagani
Message #7718 Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:26 pm
In the same strain as Johnny's last entries, here is the best love poem ever written by any human or alien being since Adam:
Candy is dandy
But liquor is quicker.
(by Ogden Nash, of course!)
Isagani
Message #7719 Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:29 pm
Mercy, I'm still thinking of how to answer your question. In the meantime, regarding "Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found thee," I suppose you & most of the others in the loop (the ones not included in "most" are prob'ly the youngest ones) must know the famous pun - involving that line - that was used in a real situation. Back in the 50's, soon after the Korean war, the son of the President of South Korea, S___ Rhee, was a correspondent for Life magazine. A journalist from another outfit had to talk to the son & had difficulty looking for him. Finally, she encountered him, & greeted him w/ the the line - Ah, sweet Mister Rhee of Life, at last I've found thee!" At that time, the song was quite well known.
Ruben
Message #7720 Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:21 pm
Hi Ruben,
My final entry, again from a song I heard many times in Diliman. Can't quite remember the lyricist/s but a song that touches the heart quite tenderly nevertheless and evokes a certain kind of gentle sweetness, at least for me:
from "ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE"
Time and again I've longed for adventure,
Something to make my heart beat the faster
What did I long for? I never really knew.
Finding your love I've found my adventure,
Touching your hand, my heart beats the faster,
All that I want in all of this world is you.
You are the promised kiss of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long.
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovelysong.
You are the angel glow that lights a star.
The dearest things I know are what your are.
Some day my happy arms will hold you.
__________________
See you soon, Ruben,
Chit
And some day I'll know that moment divine,
When all the things you are, ar mine.
Message #7721 Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:29 pm
Sorry, Ruben, just noticed a mechanical glitz in the final "Valentine" entry I sent. I'm sure you can see what I mean and will be so kind as to understand and make the necessary adjustment in the submission.
Salamat,
Chit
Message #7722 Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:44 pm
Akalà ko intentional yung pagsingit ng recited monologue (see down below) in between the sung portions -- in the style popular during the 50's.
Regards. Johnny
Message #7723 Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:48 pm
Hi Isagani,
Thanks for the link to Jessie Lemont's translation. All these years
I've wondered whose translation Miss Dadufalza gave us, because it is
so much better than others I've seen.
Now I am curious how Leonard Bernstein set this to music.
Happy Valentine to you and Medy!
Lili
Message #7724 Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:37 am
All the Things You Are . . . music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Bopeep
Message #7726 Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:42 am
Thanks a lot, Bopeep.
Chit
Message #7728 Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:16 pm
Really beautiful, also sung in a more recent movie, "Mrs. Henderson
Presents" with Dame Judi Dench. Brought back wonderful memories of the
UPSCA choir. Here's a midi as well as a wikipedia history.
http://www.jamesness.com/allthethings.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Things_You_Are
Lili
Message #7729 Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:30 pm
Thanks for sending the Midi
---- Lili,
I am writing this as I listen to the midi file you sent...nice piano piece. Reminds me of the piano bars in Manila as in the Hilton or Intercon, in fact the one who normally plays at the intercon was good friend who died young. Now you can see how rich the Filipinos are, at the Shangrila you do not just get a player, at the lobby lounge the piano player are accompanied by 18 or 20 piece string, flute all lady ensemble.....amazing for the price of a coffee or a beer or happy hour wine- Pesos 700 all you can drink; you get entertained by a 20 women ( there is a man the bass player), one cannot get that treatment here for that price. I miss these type of music, although as you know here in Las Vegas one can get entertained by cloned Beatles or Elvis for $10.00, I still prefer the Philippine inexpensive night life. (girley bars are a little expensive though pesos 300 for lady's drinks and they drink a lot in an hour)
Cheers,
Tony
Message #7734 Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:51 pm
You're welcome. Happy Valentine to you and Bernie.
Lili
Message #7742 Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:31 am
Oh, Mercy, have mercy, I think you’re trying to make me a Buddhist. Where all truth and all beauty and all love – i.e., the fullness of all these - are found, then there’s what we might call “a quintessence of all be-ing .” What is not true, what is not beautiful, what is not love, ultimately (“ontologically”) “have no being;” for these are defects in being – they’re “what’s lacking” & they pertain to “non-being.” Where you have the fullness of all these, you have the One who is all Be-ing & has nothing of non-being. We Christians call that one – “God.” Rather than “truth” – although this word has its important uses – in the present context perhaps “wisdom” is more appropriate, for our God is a dynamic God.
Your question reminded me of a poem by Emily Dickenson – quixotic & somewhat humorous in “poetic presentation;” it’s the following:
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?*
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth, - the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
(* “failed,” I’d say, is the poet’s way of saying here – “lost my hold on life.”
Well, there’s nobody here who died for love. But I know somebody who died for love, a beautiful Danish woman, blonde, living in the Philippines. She dearly loved her husband. Unlike most men, he liked women – esp. those who had a fair, fine, pinkish complexion like her – to have really black hair (not just “brunette”) – black as charcoal twice used. So, she dyed for love. (And, in the eyes of the guy, she dyed for beauty too!)
The lines you sent also reminded me of lines from John Keats – unforgettable lines in English lit., written by a man who knew that because of “consumption” (T.B.) he was doomed to die young; lines at the end of one of the great odes in English lit. – “Ode to a Grecian Urn:”
“ ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
This, supposedly, was the message of the Grecian urn – addressed by Keats, in the poem’s first line – as “Thou still unravished bride of quietness” – to mankind. So, did your source partly plagiarize from Keats? Let’s say – no, not wilfully – the thoughts expressed in the line (on beauty w/ truth) you quote & the line of Keats are rather different, & besides are thoughts that come to many of us humans; so, my question was just a faked jab. Jimmy, I believe, is an admirer of Keats. Show/tell him about this posting, if he hasn’t seen it yet on his laptap.
What did Emily Dickenson want to say in her poem? Of course, I really don’t know.
But to me, the poem seems to say this. In this life, we strive to seek truth, and find and take joy from beauty, some of us w/ such passion that that they could say, in death, “I died for beauty,” or “I died for truth.” But even if they were given time – beyond the grave – to speak about beauty, or to speak about truth – at last they could say nothing more – death wd be triumphant; the moss wd cover up their lips, & they’d just be among the “unknown dead,” after a time.
Beauty and truth are inexhaustible; the fate of most mortals is that, no matter how much they loved beauty and truth, no matter, even, that they had died for these things, they couldn’t have said much, they wouldn’t have done much for beauty and truth – they’d just be among the countless & unnoted humans who’d loved and lived for beauty & truth – their names unknown & unhonored in the long future. But the “couldn’t have said much” and the “wouldn’t have done much” are questionable for many of the unknown, unhonored dead. Here, Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” we may say, supplements Emily’s poem: This Elegy says:
… … ….
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
… …
Nor ye, ye Proud, impute to these the fault
If Memory o’er their tomb no trophies raise,
… …
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
… …
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.
… … …
True enough. But as Emily says, death is triumphant – triumphant over things as they are & triumphant also over possibilities, over might-have-beens. Such is God’s will for mortal men. (And yet the question is legitimate: the marks of the triumph in this case and in that case, etc. are obvious: the cessation of living, the death-decay, the physical end of doing and striving; but how real, overall, is the triumph of death, even if we speak only of life on earth, when we consider what all our history has taught us – that human reality goes beyond the obvious, and ranges over time unknown?) But of course this is not what Emily speaks of. We shd catch, however, an undertone in Emily’s poem – that it was enough to have “died for beauty” (i.e., lived for beauty) or to have “died for truth” (lived for truth); like persons who had undergone separate exciting adventures, those who have lived thus, meeting each other, babble about what they had seen, had heard, had done, had learned , but the time comes when the stories cease. “The rest is silence.” (Hamlet). But the experience was wondrous, and enough.
Ruben
Message #7744 Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:19 am
Hi Lili,
Thanks for sharing the soulful rendition that indeed truly brings back "wonderful memories of the UPSCA choir". I can almost see those glorious summers again and the magnificent "fire" trees in the campus. You just made my reminiecing complete. Too bad, I am told the Beta Way isn't there anymore, among others. But, hey, things change and people move on . . .
Salamat,
Chit
Message #7745 Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:17 am
You're welcome, Chit.
Lili
Message #7757 Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:48 pm
First, a correction. In my reply to Mercy, on a question she asked upon making submissions to our Valentine’s Day poetry contest, I used the word “Buddhist.” I shd have said “Hinduist.”
--------
Below are three submissions that are, however, disqualified from winning:
The first is one that I cadged from Naida. But it must be acknowledged that she, as a student in the ‘60’s, got it from Prof. Ching Dadufalza. It’s quoted in Naida’s contribution to the book published as a tribute to Prof. Dadulfalza from friends/former students, entitled Who’s Afraid of Ching Dadufalza? The poem, I believe, appeared on an ancient Greek epitaph. Naida’s article is entitled “The Just Equation. . .”
I who loved beauty was not beautiful;
I cherished Truth and yet was not true;
I who remembered am so soon forgotten,
But I loved you.
I who loved Mirth was well acquaint with sorrow;
I loved Freedom, yet was not free;
But once, indeed, I knew the just equation,
For you loved me.
And here’s a submission from Naida & me. A poem by Emily Dickenson that we placed on the invitations for our wedding – 36 years ago:
Of all the souls that stand create
I have elected one.
When sense from spirit files away,
And subterfuge is done;
And when that which is and that which was
Apart, intrinsic, stand;
When figures show their royal front
And mists are carved away –
Behold the atom I preferred
To all the lists of clay.
When I conceived of the contest, I considered making the rule that a submission should not be lyrics of a song, unless the lyrics were written as a poem, before being set into music (like “To Celia”[??] – “Drink to me only with thine eyes/ And I will pledge with mine/ Nor leave a kiss but in the cup/ And I’ll not look for wine). (I was thinking of that as a rule because I thought it wd be interesting to have a future contest limited to “love songs.”) However, I decided not to make the thought-of rule a rule. Some submissions indeed were lyrics written for songs. Below is my favorite passage in a pop song on love – the song being “Where Walks My True Love” that I mentioned sometime ago on this site as a song I found beautiful & enchanting, worthy of being considered among the best love songs, both for its melody & for its lyrics, written by Sylvia Fine, wife of Danny Kaye, who sung it in the 50’s movie The Court Jester. The song was later recorded by – I think – Timi Yuro, but although the song was for a while popular to some extent, it’s been mostly forgotten; a pity, since it’s truly a lovely love song. (According to Wikipedia, The Court Jester, starring Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, Basil Rathbone, and Angela Lansbury was, at its time, the most expensive comedy film ever made. Its story has similarities w/ that of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" - "almost a parody of the latter." Basil Rathbone was a "world-class fencer," but according to him, Danny Kaye, because of his great ability as a dancer, became even a better fencer in 3 weeks' time. The film is included in the National Film Registry of the US Library of Congress as one of the films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Danny Kaye plays the role of an impersonator of "The Black Fox,"& his assistants are his pals at the carnival - dwarves. The movie is a "matinee favorite" on TV. Many other interesting details in the Wikipedia article, esp. on an episode involving tongue-twisting, puzzling dialogue that has become famous. Amazon gives a 5-star rating to the film. Seems like a good buy.)
I’ll know my true love,
Don’t ask me how or why.
How does the first star find its way
To the evening sky?
Ruben
Message #7767 Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:07 am
Johnny,
Those poems are great. I am an Emily Dickinson fan myself, since high school days. I wish I could point to a romantic poem that I shared with my first wife, but there is none. All we had was The Waste Land. We were both existentialists in those days, and therefore never should have married each other. (My current wife's philosophy is whatever what mine is, she's flexible.)
But there's one poem that has been with me all these years. It's from William Butler Yeats:
Had I the heavens' embroidered clothes,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the clothes under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
Unbelievable imagery! Takes me back to my college days when I was literally poor.
Cesar
Message #7770 Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:52 pm
My Funny Valentine
~ By Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable, unphotographable
Yet you're my favorite work of art
Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little bit weak
When you open it to speak, are you smart
Don't, baby don't
Don't change you hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentine's
Each day is valentine's day
Stay little valentine stay, stay, stay
Each day is valentine's
Each day is valentine's day
Valentine's day
Bert
Message #7772 Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:25 pm
Bert, I can sing this the Bukidnon way and you will
never stop laughing.
Mercy
Message #7773 Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:24 pm
Looking forward to that when our paths cross either here or there when we surprise Tigi.
Bert
Message #7776 Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:26 pm
Hi, Lili! Not too cold out there, I trust.
Hey, I remember that you submitted a fine Rilke poem in the Valentine’s Day poetry contest. Let me tell you that you’re in the running for the prize. But the way it’s going, I estimate I may need 24 hrs. more to decide who’ll be the winner. Lili, you think you can keep running 24 hrs. more? All for the sake of art & maybe lasting fame!
Ruben
Message #7781 Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:05 pm
Valentine's Day Poetry Contest: Announcing the Winner & the Prize
In the Valentine’s Day Poetry Contest, the judgement is in. The winning contestant is Lili, with her submission of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke “Liebes-Lied” (“Love Song”). Copy of Lili’s submission may be found towards the end of this posting. [Can't resist comment: The "Love Song" is lied?]
Lily’s prize is – a copy of the English translation by Rumer Godden of some poems from Carmen de Gatztold’s book of poems The Creatures’ Choir (translation of the French title Choral de Be^tes ). The prize is typed below. I have taken the liberty of “typing the prize” in this posting, which goes to the Upscaloop, Poetswannabe, & a few other addressees, most of them Upscans, because I’m sure that Lili wouldn’t mind sharing her prize with these people. Congratulations, Lili! Once again, you’ve demonstrated your good taste – I presume to say so. On behalf of the Upscaloop & Poetswannabe, I as the judge also wish to thank the others who made submissions to the contest – some of them sending in two or more pieces: Johnny, JOng, Isagani, Erlinda, Tony, Mercy, Erwin, Danny, Chit, Cesar, Bert.
Here are some excerpts from Rumer Godden’s Introduction to her selection of poems from The Creatures’ Choir, for the book that’s mentioned below.
Carmen Bernos de Gasztold lives now [1970] in the colombier, the great dove house, converted to a guest house, that belongs to the Benedictine Abbaye of St. Louis du Temple in the rolling French countryside between Paris and Versailles. The Abbaye, with its farm buildings and its original chateau, is walled in its park, but the dove-house tower stands apart, high and alone in the fields, open to such a wide sweep of land and sky that it seems the hub of the wheel of creation. From every window one can watch the landscape: clouds racing across the sky – this is a windy part of France; the blueness of still days; the larks winging up from the furrows; the return of the swallows. One can follow the cycle of the year, the tillage and manuring of the fields, the sowing and the crops; the seasons of wild flowers and trees; and, as well, the minuscule shy active life of country creatures. Indeed, that tower seems a symbol of Carmen de Gatztold’s talent in these poems of The Creatures’ Choir, in which each creature is itself yet part of the large world. … … …
[Carmen de Gatztold’s] first book, Prayers from the Ark, brought her renown; the initial American printing was sold out in five days; since then there has been printing after printing: translations into German, Dutch, Spanish, Finnish, Italian; a recording published by Folkways and exquisitely spoken in English and French by Marian Seldes, while a setting to music is on the way. There has been, in fact, a best-selling success, but The Creatures’ Choir has not been written as a sequel. I found both books together some four years ago, when they were in pamphlet form in French, published by the Editions du Cloitre, the Abbaye’s private press, in which they had had something of a “hidden life.” I resolved then that this second book, too, must be translated.
Most of these new poems are not prayers, in the sense that a prayer is a plea; each animal, bird, fish, reptile, or insect makes, as it were, a statement of its situation, its circumstances – what, perhaps, we humans would call its problem. … …
Carmen de Gatztold, as I said in the Preface to Prayers from the Ark, lives in an athmosphere of prayer, more importantly of belief, and none of her creatures questions for a moment that it has a creator, but her poems have not been influenced by the Abbaye; she is too independent to be influenced by anyone, and though the poems are Catholic in origin they are catholic too in the sense that they are for everyone, no matter of what creed. In The Creatures’ Choir, unlike the Prayers, humans seldom appear; most of the poems are a direct communication between the beast, large or small, and its creator, and the link is as powerful with the flea as with the whale – though the flea, being a flea, is less respectful.
…. When I came to the Abbaye itself, we, Carmen and I, were allowed to work in one of the parlours with the nuns who publish her in France. … …
… [A]nd the personality of the nuns is such that the grille seems to disappear; but to work is one thing, to succeed is another, and, as with the Prayers from the Ark, I am aware that I have not captured the poems in their original worth. There is an elusiveness too, about these voices…[truncated, because there’s a reference to a poem – needed to be read to make the sentence meaningful – that I do not have for copying]. Yet, elusive or not, I feel Carmen de Gasztold has been able to find for each beast its authentic voice, and this in a refreshing, matter-of-fact way; yet each large or infinitesimal, favoured or ill-favoured, bold or timid creature wafts up, as in the Prayers, an unexpected grain of incense that consecrates its wild or tame work-a-day self. ###
The Starfish
Lord,
Your deep has closed over me.
Am I
some small Lucifer
fallen from heaven
and left
to be tormented by the waves?
Look, Lord,
I seem
a star of blood.
I try to remember
my lost royalty
but in vain.
Creeping over the sand,
I spread my star-points wide
and dream, dream, dream . . . .
Lord,
an angel
could root me up
from the bottom of the sea
and set me back
in Your sky.
Oh! One day
could that be?
Amen.
The Seagull
A hole in the cliffs
is my nest but the sea calls me.
And I cradle my dreams
in the hollows of the waves.
The roll of Your ocean
is with me in the sky,
where I swing on one wing, then the other,
and plummet
like a stone
on the living flash
of a fish.
Lord,
does my poignant cry
echo the endless travail
that beats on Your shore?
I’m the bird
like salt,
grey and white, a bitter tang
that does not fade;
and the ships
outward bound
watch me out of sight. A little handkerchief
waving goodbye.
In the restlessness of my kingdom,
Lord,
let the storm spare me.
Amen.
The Mole
I dig and dig,
looking
for life itself.
You have chosen darkness
for me, Lord,
and my tunnel
lengthens
in cavernous night.
Here and there,
a tiny hillock
shows above the ground;
and the rest
is buried
in the deep dark.
A hidden life,
Lord,
but not a poor one –
my velvet coat shows that.
In shadowy gloom
one can walk without presumption
and be perfectly safe –
but the sun
can turn one’s head;
Lord, keep me from the vanities of the world,
and guide the strivings
of my little paws
so that they reach
some secret Paradise.
Amen.
The Fly
Lord,
shall I always go in black
for this life?
Fugitive from its tumult
on my transparent wings,
humming my prayers
and pausing weightless
on my thin legs,
I,
whom the world finds such a burden?
You have made me
stick to what lures me.
Yet, if I am caught
clinging there,
don’t let me die
like the poor useless
thing that I am.
Amen.
The Centipede
With innumerable little footsteps
I go through life
but, Lord,
I can never
get to the end of myself!
It’s a queer sensation
to be a multitude
that follows itself
in Indian file!
True,
it’s the first step that counts,
or, rather,
the first foot.
All that matters
is to be in step
with one’s self.
I only ask,
Lord,
to jog along
one in spirit
without troublesome
reticences.
Amen.
The Gazelle
Fleet,
Light,
my heart stifled
with wild fear,
always ready to leap
away with the wind,
at the least noise,
the least cry,
I bless You
Lord,
because for me
You have set no bounds
to Your space;
and if I fly,
an arrow,
on my slender legs,
my little hooves
barely skimming the ground,
it is not that I scorn
the peace of Your pools,
but so, Lord,
that my life
might be a race
run straight
to the haven of Your love.
Amen.
- From The Creatures’ Choir
By Carmen de Gasztold
Translated from the French by Rumer
Godden (Taken from the book Famous
Writers Annual, Book One, 1970.)
[Lily’s Posting: See copy below]
I have seen many translations of this poem, but what I remember is the one from Miss Dadufalza's English class. Unfortunately, I don't know whose translation this is. Maybe the poets in the loop know?
Liebes-Lied
a poem by
Rainer Maria Rilke
Wie soll ich meine Seele halten, daß
sie nicht an deine rührt? Wie soll ich sie
hinheben über dich zu andern Dingen?
Ach gerne möchte ich sie bei irgendetwas
Verlorenem im Dunkel unterbringen
an einer fremden stillen Stelle, die
nicht weiterschwingt, wenn diene Tiefen schwingen.
Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,
die aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht.
Auf welches Instrument sind wir gespannt?
Und welcher Geiger hat uns in der Hand?
O süßes Lied.
Love Song
When my soul touches yours, a great chord sings
How shall I tune it then to other things?
Oh, that some spot in darkness could be found
That does not vibrate whenever your depths sound.
But everything that touches you and me
Welds us as played strings sound one melody.
Where is the instrument whence the sounds flow?
And whose the master hand that holds the bow?
Oh, sweet song.
Ruben
Message #7782 Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:07 pm
So much for the Foreign Language category winner -- who won the main prize?
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In a lutong-makáw contest, I guess my calypso piece by the Norman Luboff Choir and my love offering by Antoine Dominique (better known as Fats Domino) never had a chance. Both entries had racist overtones in this politically-correct age: "The Proposal" was created by whitebread trying to sound ethnic; the "Let the Four Winds Blow"/"I'm In Love Again" medley was performed by an egot.in the days before Affirmative Action.
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I'm not a sour loser, but why do I see nothing to eat in the refrigerator except grapefruit?
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Biro lang, all of the above comments. Just kidding. Heart-felt congratulations to the deserving winner!
Regards. Johnny
Message #7783 Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:26 am
People, sorry about some "typesetting" or formatting errors in the poems from The Creatures' Choir in my posting - announcing the winner & the prize in the Valentine's Day poetry contest - that I made just before this one. All lines in the poems shd. be vertically aligned on the left. I don't know why some lines "wandered" to the right; as far as I recall, the lines were properly aligned in the "layout," when I pressed the "Send" button; well, this wasn't the first time such a thing happened; I guess the making of some changes in the text does not overrule certain things in the computer's memory, & what one sees displayed on the screen is not necessarily what wd. exactly appear, even on one's own screen, when the text is e-mailed.
However, what looks like a formatting error - the appearance in one of the poems of the single word, & single letter, "I," all by its lonesome as a line, is correct. ###
Ruben
Message # 7785 Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:21 am
hi judge ruben: thx for mentioning me as a bonafide contestant in that highly competetive valentine poem contest... i feel so honored and privileged to be named in the ranks of the english majors and poets of note in the ranks of up alumni and upsca alumni, honestly.... it was great fun reading all the interchanges and listening to the wonderful music and the jibes and jokes were all the more thrilling....altho it shd have been a poem category, eh? consider alone the fact that the contestants came from different fields: engineering,pharmacy, law, education, etc.
lastly, thx for sharing the coveted prize.
erlinda, lone phar contestant!! and game loser, too.
Message #7786 Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:42 am
I am an embarrassment for those representing the engineering field. Is it too late to withdraw my two entries? I missed that this was a POETRY Contest. My first entry was an instrumental (trumpet) rendition of My Funny Valentine, emphasizing "Valentine." But I immediately realized that Tony's O Sole Mio was vocal, so I said to myself "Duh!!! (borrowed this expression from Danny) and sneaked in my second entry - this time a VOCAL rendition of the same song My Funny Valentine in Japanese. "Duh, Duh."
Bert
Message #7787 Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:58 am
no apologies, bert....
i truly enjoyed all the musical entries....in fact, it enlivened
things to such a point that i spent extra time on my piano
trying to catch up on some tunes and even wrote down
the lyrics for possible singsongs....and lost much sleep
listening to the wondrous songs of long ago......
we all proved to be romantics at heart, winner and losers alike.
kudos to the true poet lili!!
music lover erly
Message #7790 Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:59 am
I've never won a poetry Contest before, not even for a Poem I didn't write, because unlike Gemino, what I write barely qualifies as serious Poetry. I wasn't even sure the English Translation of Rilke's Poem which I somehow managed to remember after 4 Decades, is 100% correct. I couldn't find it on the Internet, and I wondered if I just made it up--Alzhy in reverse! Thank you, Isagani, for restoring my Faith in the Power of long-term Memory. I also thought my other Entry had a better Chance ("Believe me for all those endearing young Charms); after all, I was more familiar with the Song, while Bernstein's Composition is still hiding under Copyrite restrictions. Besides, the German Original of Liebes-lied didn't sound too Valentiney -- Deutschlanders are better off sticking to their incomparable Muzik-- and they do have this annoying Habit of capitalizing their Nouns. The romance Languages do a much better Job with Passion-Fruit Poetry, I think.
At any rate, it's nice to wake up and find my Poem a Winner, and I am finally in the same honored League as the venerable Dr. JOng, something beyond my wildest Dreams. And though I am tempted to protest ("naku naman"), in the time-honored Filipino Tradition of appearing not too eager to claim the Prize, I say let's get it over and done with and accept the Verdict of the one-man Judge, with whose Rules we all played fast and loose anyway. The Prize is quite nice and ingenious, albeit slightly mis-aligned, and I am happy to share it with everyone, whose Entries were equally romantic (well, OK, there were a few Exceptions). Carmen de Gatztold's poems will surely delight my future Grandchildren, if they are truly descended from me.
Danke schön. Thank you. Salamat gid. (Curtsey, in that antiquated STC style)
Hanggang sa susunod na Paligsahan.
Lili
Message # 7795 Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:23 pm
TO LILI, THE WINNER:THIS VICTORY AND HONOR WILL BE IN ITSELF A GREAT LEGACY TO YOUR FUTURE GRANDCHILDREN. NOW, I WONDER IF A CERTIFICATE OR A PLAQUE COULD BE PREPARED FOR DISPLAY IN LILI'S LIVING ROOM.....FOR POSTERITY.
ALREADY A LOLA, ERLINDA
I CAN JUST FORWARD THE EMAIL OF RUBEN MENTIONING MY NAME AMONG THE CONTESTANTS AS SOMETHING FOR MY GRANDKIDS TO KNOW THAT LOLA ERLY HAD THE NERVE AND THE COURAGE TO COMPETE IN A NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL(??) POETRY CONTEST!!! SO NOW, LET US GET THE GEOGRAPHIC RANGE OF THE CONTESTANTS....
RUBEN, YOU IGNITED A GLOBAL SPARK!
Message # 7796 Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:33 pm
Hello, Lola Erly,
No need for a plaque or certificate for me. Exchanging poems in the loop is fun enough. I really enjoyed reading the others' poems and songs, including yours.
Your grandkids would be so proud of you, who dared submit verses which come from your heart.
More power to you!
Lili
Message # 7797 Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:11 am
it is really great being in the loop....the kidding and the casual banter, mixed with some serious discussions and the way we abandon the rules for the sake of old times and plain camaraderie sure make each one more endearing
lola erly feels young amongst you youngsters of the 60s and more recent years....
erlinda
Message 7800 Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:20 am
Ryben, such exquisite taste. ANg ganda talaga ng Rilke
poem. Concede. I will just sing to you Funny Valentine.
Mercy
Message # 7810 Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:56 am
Lily, you've truly amazed me! I've read an English translation of that Rilke poem many times, the last time not too long ago, & I cd swear that the translation you sent as an entry to the contest - along w/ the orig. German text - vibrated in my mind as a very faithful & poetic alternative to that English version in the book Modern European Poetry. (I was looking for that book, even before I re-read the entries "to pass judgement," but somehow it has disappeared from our bookshelves.) I cd hardly believe that, after more than 4 decades, you cd remember an nglish version that you got at a class of Prof. Ching Dadufalza. Perhaps you shd be a contestant in some kd of memory contest. Wishing you all the best.
Ruben
Message # 7814 Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:39 pm
Thanks again. We tend to remember the things which matter--a verse, a face, a landscape, a scent, a melody, an act of kindness--so it wasn't too much of a wonder. Also, Iong-term memory seems to work very well at this time of our lives, although short-term memory is another matter.
Thanks, too, for organizing the contest. Good to have something light-hearted to read in the loop once in a while.
Lili
Message #7816 Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:59 am
Congratulations, Lili, and thanks, Ruben, for orchestrating -- and sharing it all. I certainly enjoyed reading the entries in all their many forms.
As they say, "All's well that ends well."
Cheers,
Chit
