Aspirations and Descents (Charles Williams)
gurdonark
This track is my ‘pella of me singing a song based on my poem “Aspirations and Descents (Charles Williams)”. Charles Williams was a 20th Century poet and novelist, a member of the Inklings literary group in the UK.
The poem is about a real challenge in his life, having to do with “his Beatrice” at the office.
The simple poem goes like this:
He kept his finger on pulses
which burned, like gospel-hymn fire,
images and symbols,
Hell’s damnation and Heaven’s passion.
His mind raced through times he imagined,
living multiple eras with each thought.
Every man needs the Holy Spirit,
but some find also a Beatrice;
yet sometimes Beatrice is taken unawares,
proofreading copy, never possessed at all.
He’s mapped fate as Tarot cards,
found Arthur in the mist of Logo,
but who can find his passion,
when the fog rises inside?
He’d seen men descend to Hell on a rope,
but that damnation pales
next to the sound of his breath,
plunging from him when she passes,
an intake and exhalation like
Lazarus’ death.
By night, he cast spells to get the Holy Ghost across
but from nine to five his magick
applied only to manuscripts, with
Beatrice, flustered, typing next door.
A few words are changed in the ‘pella to make the lines “fit” a bit better.
The poem is about a real challenge in his life, having to do with “his Beatrice” at the office.
The simple poem goes like this:
He kept his finger on pulses
which burned, like gospel-hymn fire,
images and symbols,
Hell’s damnation and Heaven’s passion.
His mind raced through times he imagined,
living multiple eras with each thought.
Every man needs the Holy Spirit,
but some find also a Beatrice;
yet sometimes Beatrice is taken unawares,
proofreading copy, never possessed at all.
He’s mapped fate as Tarot cards,
found Arthur in the mist of Logo,
but who can find his passion,
when the fog rises inside?
He’d seen men descend to Hell on a rope,
but that damnation pales
next to the sound of his breath,
plunging from him when she passes,
an intake and exhalation like
Lazarus’ death.
By night, he cast spells to get the Holy Ghost across
but from nine to five his magick
applied only to manuscripts, with
Beatrice, flustered, typing next door.
A few words are changed in the ‘pella to make the lines “fit” a bit better.