Uninspired
I tried blogging about a couple of things but couldn’t get going on them. One of them was ‘vocal fry,’ which seems to be the name for a croaky voice popularly embraced by some singers. I couldn’t make head or tail of it or see the point of it. There’s information here and here and here is an example.
The second thing I contemplated was ‘Galalith,’ known as ‘Erinoid’ in UK, which is a synthetic plastic derived from casein, which is found in mammals’ milk, mixed with formaldehyde.
Having failed at each of those, I turned to other things and previous posts.
I wrote
the following a few years ago, in response to a writing prompt.
The Sisters Death and Night
For each
night’s sleep is a little death
When the Sisters enter, arm in arm,
Smiling gently at each breath,
Wondering which of them will charm
The soul to dream or travel on?
And if at
dawn the sleeper stirs,
Death nods to Night, cedes her downfall,
On this still morning she defers
To Night, who knows Death conquers all -
Death whispers soft, ‘Anon, anon.’
The idea of sleep as a little death has been used as a motif by several writers, including Buddha (c563 or 480 BC) Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
A child’s
prayer common in the 17th century ran thus:
Now I lay
me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my Soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my Soul to take.
Another prayer is called the ‘Black Paternoster,’ named so in Longfellow’s poem ‘The Golden Legend,’ in which Lucifer scorns the mass as the ‘Black Paternoster.’
Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.
It is thought to have ancient origins. From Wikipedia:
The Babylonian prayer "Shamash before me, behind me Sin, Nergal at
my right, Ninib at my left", is echoed by the medieval Jewish prayer: "In the
name of the Lord, the God of Israel, may Michael be at my right
hand; Gabriel at my left; Uriel before me; Raphael behind me and
the Shekhinah of God be above my head" which is used as a prayer before sleep.
I don't remember ever praying before sleeping, not even the "now I lay me down to sleep". Probably many children did back then, particularly the ones that went to Church and Sunday School, but I don't think many do now.
ReplyDeleteIf children don't learn it at home, it doesn't become a habit.
DeleteListen to the way the Kashians speak and that's a vocal fry. It's an affect, and an idiotic one.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed when I listened to the clip - it is an affectation and rather a silly one.
DeleteThe 'Now I lay me down to sleep' I know only from horror films lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear! 😁
DeleteNow you have stirred a memory for me. As a child I was given a nightlight as a birthday or Christmas present. It was made from a soft plastic and in the shape of a small child kneeling beside their bed hands clasped, praying. The words Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep were embossed along it. It was quite clever..you just squeezed it gently to switch it on or off.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about that in decades!
That was a clever lamp, so easy to control.
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ReplyDelete"The Sisters Death and Night" tells me that you have genuine talent when it comes to creating poetry. Have you ever compiled your best poems to make a collection to share with others?
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of you to say. My 'poems' range from gobbledygook to sentimentality. I have written them in a separate notebook but that's as far as it goes.
DeleteHi Janice - a fascinating post taking us to places many of us might have forgotten - the last two poems/prayers I know - not sure I ever said them. Your poem is really sad ... except the 'anon anon' said by Death - thankfully - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteAgree with Yorkshire Pudding, that poem is very stirring! xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ann.
DeleteVery interesting. I knew a couple of those poems. One can only hope that they go peacefully in their sleep when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteIt's what we all hope for.
DeleteYour poem is very well written, I love it.
ReplyDeleteI do not love the way speech is going in the young but of course there's not a thing I can do about that 😆
Alison in Wales x
No doubt it will pass. There was a trend a while ago for 'Estuary English' and before that, young people affected what they thought was Australian intonation, everything ending in a question mark.
DeleteMy MIL taught me the 4 Corners poem many years ago. And Little Death is also a euphemism for 😳
ReplyDeleteWhen death was more of a commonplace among children, the four corners prayer would have been more apposite. Now we shy away from the subject.
DeleteI listened to a NPR thing on voice fry some years back and realized that my youngest daughter 'does it'. I cannot remember whether it is a affectation or a habit, or a vocal quirk, but I found it annoying and pretentious, which puzzled me because I don't see my daughter that way.
ReplyDeleteCJ made me laugh. I'd forgotten that one.
It sounds as though it's entirely natural for your daughter. I know a young girl who has a naturally husky voice and it's very attractive, though perhaps that's not quite the same thing.
DeleteIt's amazing how many of us bloggers are poets.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many of us blog! 😀
DeleteVocal fry. Ugh! By the way, I enjoy it when you share your non-blog writing.
ReplyDeleteVocal tics can be very entertaining, so long as you don't have to live with them.
DeleteI like the poetry. It's hard to come up with something to blog about at times.
ReplyDeleteA glimpse into other people's lives is what blogging is often about.
Delete'Now I lay me down to sleep' ... a prayer from my childhood and probably a Sunday School teaching too.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I always liked that little prayer - it's innocent.
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