‽istis wonders when folk matters or folks matter (weekending January
28th 2023)
This week ‽istis has pondered:
‽ Holocaust Memorial Day[i]… millions and millions of real people - every single one of them a child, a grandchild, a sibling or friend or parent or aunt or uncle or grandparent– killed, murdered, raped, made homeless, livelihoods destroyed,
children and adults traumatised with acute and chronic consequences; bodies and
minds as sites of international crimes and evidence at the very least of our
terrible capacity for utter, pathetic, catastrophic failure…
‽ the potential for escalation of conflict in Ukraine – perhaps
more and more people killed, murdered, raped, made homeless, livelihoods
destroyed, children and adults traumatised with acute and chronic consequences;
bodies and minds as sites of international crimes; possibly more and more
profit for arms’ manufacturers; perhaps more evidence of our terrible capacity
for utter, pathetic, catastrophic failure…
‽ strikes across the UK, in-work poverty, privileged ‘elites’
visiting food banks[ii] (‘let them eat from donated
tins’) for whose benefit? An example of maybe structural, systemic, sanctioned,
endorsed, reinforced and perpetuated inequality meeting a perspective that divides,
organises, rewards, accords and affords value based on what may be no more than
the uncontrollable vagaries of birth and level of physical or mental capacity -
for which none of us can perhaps claim responsibility or take credit – pun
intended…)
‽ niche hobbies and their enthusiasts (from organ-grinding to Lego
model building; perhaps, possibly, maybe more to follow in forthcoming blogs)
…and has also pondered when folk songs matter.
‽istis recently learned a folk song from the UK’s West Country –
with a tune thought to be from the sixteenth century, words seemingly from an
unknown poet and both ‘collected’ from one James Parsons, son of a man known as
‘The Singing-machine' and the then occupant of the role of ‘songman’ hereditary
in the family[iii] .
‘A maiden sat a weeping’
A
maiden sat a-weeping
Down
by the sea shore,
What
ails my pretty mistress?
And makes her heart sore!
Because
I am a-weary,
A
weary in mind,
No
comfort, and no pleasure, love,
No
comfort, and no pleasure, love,
Henceforth
can I find.
I’ll
spread my sail of silver,
I’ll
loose my rope of silk,
My
mast is of the cypress-tree,
My
mast is of the cypress tree,
My
track is as of milk.
I’ll
spread my sail of silver
I’ll
steer toward the sun
And
thou, false love wilt weep for me,
And
thou, false love wilt weep for me,
For
me _ when I am gone.
Then, this week, walking on the
beach there was a ‘maiden’ – slow-pacing the shore line, stopping to gaze,
motionless, out to sea for lengthy periods – before pacing again from one
length of the beach to the other…
possibly, perhaps, maybe ailing or with heart sore.
A contrivance of a dog toy thrown closer gave the opportunity: a called out ‘sorry’ and then a slightly hesitant but direct question: ‘are you alright? I couldn’t help but be a bit worried’ (not great perhaps but that’s what came out at the time – and ‘What ails my pretty mistress? And makes her heart sore!’ didn’t seem quite appropriate! Ingrained assessment skills kicked in: body language; response and tone of response; any ‘a-weeping’; any ‘a-weariness’; any apparent absence of any source of ‘comfort’; any apparent sign of taking ‘no pleasure’ – any despair…
·
Had the song played a part in shaping awareness of the
possibility of shore-side distress?
·
Was asking the question enough?
·
Was the relief that assuaged imagined fears and allowed
‽istis and dog to leave the beach, appropriate or misplaced?
·
What would ‽istis have done or said if the worries had
been confirmed and if there, right then was weeping, weariness,
sore-heartedness and serious ailing?
And…
·
What songs perhaps, possibly, maybe capture a little
of the tough, rough, tricky reality of the stuff of ordinary life for many
people right now who may be a-weeping, ailing, comfortless or weary?
You may have your own list of such
songs to hand easily, but just this week ‽istis listened to ‘Dark Water’ by
Sean Cooney[iv],
‘Country Life’ by Show of Hands[v],
songs by Lady Maisery[vi]
and Our Native Daughters[vii],
and lots of Fado from Mariza[viii]
and Raquel Tavares[ix].
© ‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and
past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i]
References include: https://press.un.org/en/2023/note6547.doc.htm & https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/international-holocaust-remembrance-day
[ii]
References include: https://news.sky.com/story/william-and-kate-make-surprise-royal-visit-to-windsor-food-bank-12796040
[iii]
Information from the Introduction to: ‘ Songs of the West – Folk Songs of Devon
and Cornwall Collected from the Mouths of the People’ by S.Baring-Gould M.A.,
H.Fleetwood Sheppard M.A., and FW, Bussell, Mus.Doc.DD (6th edition
published in 1922 by Methuen and Co., London)
