Aureantes' Lair

[Above is from "The Passing of Arthur", from The Idylls of the King -- fulltext at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/idyl-pas.htm ]


I find it rather ironic, now I notice, that my status was on "Be Right Back" through most of the night. Sounds like an old disappearing act or something... :-|

No, I wasn't asleep at midnight -- just close to it, 'resting my eyes', listening to my sister's CDs of Eddie Izzard while warming myself on the couch under a furry deepred throw -- "There, you've got vampirism and cannibalism.....couldn't you just have said wine and cheese...?" Et cetera. The voice of James Mason standing in for God....the European Dream....I heard some outdoor ruckus after midnight, but not close by, and my younger sibs had done their festive drinking early, rather than make anything of pouring out something sparkling (juice or wine) in readiness for midnight. Some people have no appreciation for traditional rituals.

Well, so that means I toasted the New Year at dawn. Nothing too out of place with that, as the force of another timespan gathers and rises into daylight. And here's a little something else of Tennyson's that I like to pull out of the cedar-chest of tradition:


Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.


[ http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/653.html ]


Well...we shall see what we shall see. New year, new day, new deeds to be done, and no pattern but the post-modern/ancient/archetypal syntheses of all existence before to show the way ahead.

In other words, just like every other day -- but with a bit more significant awareness to lift up the pattern of what we do with our time and how.

_

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.


--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam



I have a melody mostly-or-all written out for this, which really needs to be written out in full arrangement.....hmm, New Year's resolution: Dig up all my songs and make sure they're written down so people can actually read them who aren't me!!!