I’ll wait – Poem

On occasion, I’ll put in headphones, listen to some music and write a poem specific to that song. It’s expected to be read to the music so I also have to work out the timing. I wrote this poem to two songs that were written to go together. Last night I was listening to a playlist and the following songs came on. The first song from the album hit me and I started to write a poem, but in the play list it ended abruptly and didn’t feel right. So I went to the album and found out it is paired with the second song and doesn’t really end abruptly, it just flows right into the next.
They are from the Album:
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone (Remastered) By Ennio Morricone, Yo-Yo Ma 2004 (with Ennio Morricone, Yo-Yo Ma, Roma Sinfonietta)

Which, having looked for a link on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XISBJ-MJ0HI) I have discovered the songs are originally from a movie (The Mission – 1986 with Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons and many more).

Here it is the album on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZReq7RYxh0d0IqLONfBHk?si=_PNwzqqwRk-74RELhmn2JA

It’s a wonderful album and I highly recommend it.

I also suggest trying to write poetry to music. Not just while listening to music, but a poem matched to a specific song. It’s also been rewarding to write poetry to a painting or photo.

I hope to read this to the music soon and when I do, I’ll post it on SoundCloud and provide a link. Until then, I hope it stands on its own.

Disclaimer: This may not work well… if you’ve seen the movie (which I will be watching soon)

Wow this intro is long… so, on to the poem:

I’ll wait

(1^st song – The Mission: Gabriel’s Oboe)
Stepping on to the porch
Sliding into my old rocking chair, I stare
Screen door creaks closed, shiver reminds me it’s biting cold
Snowflakes twirl lazily around, looking down at the cobblestone
Bare spots where they can dance
You can almost hear their pirouette’s as they cozy up to the ground
I wait patiently,
And then not
For that sound, hooves clip clopping along
Stones bracing to support the weight of horse and carriage
Silence
Breath caught by the wind
I settle in to the blanket wrapped around
No sound
And through it all, silence sings
Bare branches sway to the tune
Listening to the deafening sound
As snow, trees and silence dance on
I sit
Rocking chair squeezing sound from the porch
As I lean forward straining once again to hear
The thought of you, your smile, eyes, your stare
The smell of your hair
I wait
Storm brewing, and you
On the road tonight
Be careful my love
Wind stirs, drawing heavy-laden clouds from the west
Sun doing it’s best to paint the evening sky
Clouds grow heavy, darkness settles in
Where are you
I thought you’d be here by now
Patience my heart
Snow
Silence
Trees

(2^nd song – The Mission: The Falls)

Clip clop, clip clop,
I raise my gaze, strain my ears
Clip clop, clip clop
A carriage rides the breeze
Is it you
Clip clop, clip clop
A little louder now,
Bringing you home to me
A vision breaks through the dancing snow
Round the drive you come
Horses trudging on
Making new lines for the drifting snow to cover
My love you’ve come at last
Carriage mouth yawns
You fall, into my arms, laughing
Come quickly, before the night storm
Come quickly, we’ll warm by the fire
Passing time, sipping wine and more
You grab my hand, hold me still
Pulling me in to wrap the blanket around us both
Face to the sky
You smile
Dancing snow
I’ll wait

Stephen Kellogg – 2018