Ideal

Just in case no one knew this fact, I will repeat and emphasise that I really like poetry! The rhyme and rhythm the poets use deeply resonates with me. This was understood by ancient troubadours travelling from village to village to tell their stories or bring news. They used rhyme and rhythm to help them recall what they wanted to tell. Also rhyming poetry has a "beat" similar to that of the human heart, hence the "resonating" effect on peoples everywhere. 

So when music and poetry combine (most song lyrics are poetic) there is an emotional connect. At least I find it so. Now some years ago I heard the songs composed by Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 – 1916). An Italian by birth his songs became so popular in Victorian England that he became a British citizen in 1906. He was actually knighted by King Edward VII in 1908 for his services to the arts. Eventually he returned to Italy in 1913 and died in Rome in 1916 (my reference is Wikipedia).

As I said, when music and poetry combine I find that, without being too melodramatic, I am "transported" to another dimension. And this simple and gentle Tosti song, Ideale, with the lyrics shown below, certainly transports me back to times in my life with Magucha. (It has been recorded by many artists but I prefer the old, 1951 version, with piano accompaniment, sung by Beniamino Gigli. It’s on YouTube) 

Remember that this is a translation and the original Italian poetic form has not translated well I don’t believe. I still love the sentiment expressed.

Ideale  (Ideal) – a translation from the original Italian.

I followed you like a rainbow of peace

along the paths of heaven;

I followed you like a friendly torch

in the veil of darkness,

and I sensed you in the light, in the air,

in the perfume of flowers,

and the solitary room was full

of you and your radiance.

 

Absorbed by you, I dreamed a long time

of the sound of your voice,

and the earth’s every anxiety, every torment

I forgot in that dream.

Come back dear ideal, for an instant

to smile at me again,

and in your face will shine for me 

a new dawn.

 

Lyric: by Carmelo Erico. Music: by Francesco Paolo Tosti in 1882.

 

You see, again, without being too melodramatic, Magucha was my "Ideal".

Hypocrisy

In the world today with all the diverse communication technologies at our finger-tips it is all to easy to rush in “where angels fear to tread”, as it were, and shoot off a message without thinking of the consequences. I’ve done it myself, it’s like road rage, an immediate “fight or flight” response – “I’m not going to let that bloke get the better of me”!! kind of thing.

 

Two thousand years ago Hillel the Elder, a Jewish religious leader and scholar who was influential in the development of the Torah, gave expression to the “ethics of reciprocity” or the “Golden Rule”:- 

 

"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."

 

Also which is a natural follow on from the above:-

 

"Do not judge your fellow until you are in his place."

 

Now nothing gets up my nose and irritates me more than hypocrisy. Today hypocrisy is present with religious leaders (of ALL faiths) who profess to follow the “word” of their faith yet who have been guilty of extreme violence, of sexual abuse, paedophilia and other offences against the precepts of their faith. Just think of the businessmen who exploit staff and pay them below recommended wage levels while paying themselves obscenely high salaries; think of businessmen whose sole aim is to please their shareholders at the expense of providing a service to their customers; think of “hackers” who exploit our gullibility for financial benefit but who wouldn’t like to be “hacked” themselves; think of Government leaders who proclaim one policy yet actively work against this for political gain – all contrary to the basic “Golden Rule” that is central to all faiths and an ethical life and which is written somewhere in every sacred text and recommended in every business textbook. 

 

I know that we all fall at some of the hurdles we come across on our journey through Life. I certainly do and I certainly have. But I also, most certainly, try not to make a habit of it.

 

What follows is a quote from the writings of Eusebius (265 – 339 CE) an early Christian cleric and scholar, which I believe is applicable for all people everywhere – particularly other clerics and those who profess to lead. 

 

Difficult I know (maybe impossible) but it is best to aim high!

 

May I be no man’s enemy. 

 

May I be no man’s enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides.

May I never quarrel with those nearest to me, and if I do, may I be reconciled quickly.

May I never devise evil against any man; if any devise evil against me, may I escape uninjured and without the need of hurting him.

May I love, seek, attain only that which is good.

May I wish for all men’s happiness and envy none.

May I never rejoice in the ill fortune of one that has wronged me …

When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never rebuke others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends …

May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent …

May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another.

May I, to the extent of my power, give all needful help to my friends and all who are in want.

May I never fail a friend who is in danger.

When visiting those in grief may I be able by gentle and healing words to sooth their pain …

May I respect myself.

May I always keep tame that which rages within me …

May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances.

May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but to know good men and follow in their footsteps.

 

Such is Life

Today, a Sunday, happens to be a celebration of two events – Mothers Day (in Australia) and it is also Magucha’s birthday. She would have been 68 today.

 

I’m pulled in two directions – to celebrate the fact that motherhood is celebrated partly because it is something that no man can fully understand and also that this is not only Magucha’s birthday but that she is no longer in this world to share it with us. 

 

Motherhood, in fact life generally wasn’t easy in Zimbabwe (still known as Rhodesia in those far off days) but I did try my best to support Magucha in what was a very difficult time for her. She was married to a non-Portuguese speaker (me), in a "foreign country" (Zimbabwe) without close family or her mother’s support. Her mother did eventually fly out from Portugal to lend support. That didn’t last long and after a few weeks she returned to Portugal – I’m not sure of the reasons now but I believe it was because of the (usual) arguments that erupted between the two and my dedicated support of Magucha wouldn’t have helped smooth over the daily "eruptions".

 

Magucha was a devoted mother. She was so proud of firstly (against all medical advice) falling pregnant and then producing a beautiful daughter. The fear expressed by her doctor was that her already compromised kidneys would fail thereby threatening the lives of both mother and child.

 

I’ve written about this before but when Magucha’s waters broke and I took her to what was then known as the Lady Chancellor Maternity Hospital, I was presented with a document to sign. If a "medical situation" arose that threatened the life of either mother or baby or both did I want the mother to live at the "expense" of the baby or did I want the baby to live at the "expense" of the mother!  

 

That was the most difficult decision I’ve ever been called upon to make! I knew that if Magucha lived at the "expense" of the baby, she would never have forgiven me. That I know for certain – it would have always been a dark shadow over our relationship, even if that could continue. 

 

On the other-hand what was I supposed to do, as a working single parent in Zimbabwe, with a new-born baby and a 7yr old son? My mother was too old to be of much assistance, and in any event she and my father were living in a retirement home some 60 km away.

 

Fortunately the stars must have been properly aligned because both survived. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

 

So I now celebrate the two – a birthday and Mothers Day –  but without the person directly involved. 

And by way of celebration I (as is my usual way) offer this poem – for mothers everywhere and especially for Magucha – that poor girl suffered ill health for as long as I knew her.

 

The Anvil

Stand like a beaten anvil, when thy dream

            Is laid upon thee, golden from the fire.

Flinch not, though heavily through that furnace-gleam

            The black forge-hammers fall on thy desire.

 

Demoniac giants round thee seem to loom.

‘Tis but the world-smiths heaving to and fro.

Stand like a beaten anvil. Take the doom 

            Their ponderous weapons deal thee, blow on blow.

 

Needful to truth as dew-fall to the flower

            Is this wild wrath and this implacable scorn.

For every pang, new beauty, and new power,

            Burning blood-red shall on thy heart be born.

 

Stand like a beaten anvil. Let earth’s wrong

Beat on that iron and ring back in song.

 

                                                            Alfred Noyes