In 2009, Seattle FINALLY opened its first light rail line. This photo is of the Mt. Baker station which is a 5-10 minute walk from my house. It is so nice to be able to go the airport or downtown without driving and/or having to find a place to park.
A few months ago the light rail line expanded to Capitol Hill and the University District but I haven’t taken it to either of those places yet.
This has been such a difficult week for me, as it has been for many of us. It seems like so much of what I hold dear is in danger.
From time to time during the last two days, a song from a monastery in France has come to my mind. That song is Veni Sancte Spiritus.
The Taize monastery is dedicated to the reunification of the Christian church. At this point there are 100 brothers living there. They come from various Catholic and Protestant denominations and are from 30 different countries.
Taize music touched me to the core the first time I heard it and that has never changed. I visited the French monastery with friends in 2003 or 2004. We had the privilege of spending part of one evening with Brother Roger, their founder. He was in his late 80’s at the time of our visit.
I will never forget that experience. I felt like I was in the presence of a master. One or two years later, he was murdered in the temple. The world lost a great soul that night, but his work lives on.
There are Catholic and Protestant churches singing Taize music all over the world. Those services are always ecumenical.
I have picked a version of Veni Sante Spiritus that includes several different languages (I don’t know how many languages since I only understand English!) When I started the video and the music began, I burst into tears once again.
Following the first video, there will be another one that is in English. And at the end of the post you will find the lyrics in English. The photos in the first video are from the Taize monastery.
I chose to put the video prior to the lyrics so you had an opportunity to get a sense of the song without knowing what it meant. Here is the English version followed by the lyrics. It is also a very beautiful version. As I am listening to it my tears are still pouring.
Come, Holy Spirit, from heaven shine forth with your glorious light.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come, Father of the poor, come, generous Spirit, come,
light of our hearts.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come from the four winds, O Spirit, come breath of God;
disperse the shadows over us, renew and
strengthen your people.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Most kindly warming light! Enter the inmost depths of our hearts,
for we are faithful to you.
Without your presence we have nothing worthy, nothing pure.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
You are only comforter, Peace of the soul.
In the heat you shade us; in our labour you refresh us,
and in trouble you are our strength.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
On all who put their trust in you and receive you in faith,
shower all your gifts.
Grant that they may grow in you and persevere to the end.
Give them lasting joy!
Veni Sancte Spiritus
When I saw “Flames” was the Word Press prompt for today, two photos came to mind. The first is one I took in 2014. Every time I see it, I am reminded of campfires.
The second is from my 2015 visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. These flames are near the place where Dr. and Coretta King’s bodies are interred. The memorial was beautiful and felt like a very sacred space to me.
Helen’s direction for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is to “post a song that deals with judgment or the opposite- getting rid of judgment and being more accepting of everyone.”
I love how this weekly challenge gives me the opportunity to re-connect with music that has been important to me in the past. The song I chose for this week is Sly and the Family Stone’s Everyday People.
Everyday People was written by Sly Stone and was released in 1968. It was the first single by his band to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Wikipedia reports that Everyday People was “one of Sly Stone’s pleas for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band.” It also stated that the band was “the first major integrated band in rock history.”
Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one
For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For bein’ such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
I am everyday people
Helen’s direction for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is to share lyrics from a scary song. That assignment turned out to be harder than I thought.
When I think of scary movies, Stephen King’s The Shining and Misery are what come to mind. I also thought of Silence of the Lambs. That one wasn’t as frightening, but it certainly was intense. The problem with all three of those movies is that none of the songs have lyrics.
When I searched on the internet for scary songs, the first one that caught my eye was Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I have loved that song and the dance that goes with it since it came out in November of 1982.
It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking
In the dark
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops
Your heart
You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before
You make it
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between
The eyes
You’re paralyzed
‘Cause this is thriller, thriller night
And no one’s gonna save you from the beast about to
Strike
You know it’s thriller, thriller night
You’re fighting for your life inside a killer
Thriller tonight
You hear the door slam and realize there’s nowhere
Left to run
You feel the cold hand and wonder if you’ll ever see
The sun
You close your eyes and hope that this is just
Imagination
But all the while you hear the creature creepin’ up
Behind
You’re out of time
‘Cause this is thriller, thriller night
There ain’t no second chance against the thing with
Forty eyes
You know it’s thriller, thriller night
You’re fighting for your life inside a killer
Thriller tonight
Night creatures call
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade
There’s no escapin’ the jaws of the alien this time
(They’re open wide)
This is the end of your life
They’re out to get you; there’s demons closing in on
Every side
They will possess you unless you change the number on
Your dial
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close
Together
All through the night I’ll save you from the terrors on
The screen
I’ll make you see
That it’s a thriller, thriller night
‘Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost
Would ever dare try
Girl, this is thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller
Chiller
Thriller here tonight
That it’s a thriller, thriller night
‘Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost
Would ever dare try
Girl, this is thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y’awl’s neighborhood
And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse’s shell
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller
The Greenbelt lot behind my house is on a fairly steep decline. In the 70’s, most of it was a beautiful, terraced lot; then the blackberry, ivy and morning glory vines took over. These stairs, which until recently were covered by the invasive vines, serve as a bridge between one level and the next.
I saw the most amazing thing through my kitchen window this afternoon. I’m used to seeing spider webs close to the window, but today I noticed that there was a bee next to the spider. As I watched, the spider started turning the trapped bee over and over again, wrapping it’s silk filament around the bee with every turn.
Once the bee was encased in the silk, the spider started pulling the bee upwards. Within a minute it moved from the middle of the plate glass window to a point where it was out of my sight.
This evening, I discovered that Cee’s Black and White challenge for this week is “Looking Through a Window.” I love the synchronicity.
When I saw yesterday’s Daily Prompt was “Banned”, a memory came to my mind. Before I share what I recalled, let me give some back history.
When my son Sreejit was a teenager he was into heavy metal rock music; he listened to it, played it on his guitar, and sang it. He wore black clothes most of the time. He even asked me to go to a couple of heavy metal concerts with him. It took some persuasion on his part, but I did go to hear LA Guns and Alice in Chains.
I drew a limit though when he decided he wanted a tattoo. There was no way I was going to support him in doing something that would permanently alter his body.
As I think about it today, I realize it was a good example of setting structure as a parent. As defined by Jean Illsley Clarke, there are four kinds of structure; rigid structure, non-negotiable rules, negotiable rules, and abandonment (no structure). Rigid structure and abandonment are forms of unhealthy structure; non-negotiable rules and negotiable rules are healthy. Non-negotiable rules should be based on safety of the child and/or family values. For me, no tattoo was a non-negotiable rule, it was banned.
Fast forward to 2013. Sreejit was visiting Seattle for the first time in several years. (He lives in Amritapuri, India.) His driver’s license had expired since his last visit, so he asked me if I would take him to get a tattoo. I was happy to do that. When he got back into the car, he showed me his new bicep tattoo.
The words are Sanskrit and they mean “Through renunciation alone is immortality attained.” It is the motto of Amma’s ashram, the place where he lives.
Later Sreejit said to me, “I was pretty surprised you were willing to drive me to get a tattoo.” “Why wouldn’t I?” I asked. “When I was a kid you were so against it.” “That’s true, but you aren’t a kid any more!” “Yeah, I figured, what am I waiting for? I’m nearly forty.”
When I reflected on this interaction, I found it interesting that disapproval or questioning his decision didn’t even occur to me. Tattoos were more common in 2013’s culture than when he was a teenager, but that aside, it was truly okay with me for him to live his own life. If his life was in danger, or I thought something he wanted to do was extremely unwise, I would say so, but as an adult living on his own, there was no place in our relationship for rules.
I love having the memory of that shared experience, and appreciate the tangible example of how our relationship has moved to one that is adult to adult….. although for part of me Sreejit will always be my baby!
Written for Daily Prompt: Banned
This gray house has been in my neighborhood for 15 to 20 years, but I still find it strange to see in the midst of houses that were, for the most part, built in the 1920’s or 1950’s.
When I returned home the other day, I noticed a glob of black on my house, just above the dying dahlias. It was about 8 feet from the ground. I couldn’t imagine what it was.
As I walked closer, it became obvious.
I’ve never seen a snail 8 feet up the side of a house before!
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