Need the Password?

Everyone subscribed to my newsletter has received the password to unlock the mini poster (previous post) created from the cover of my novel Troll-magic. The poster features the lovely painting Psyche Entering Cupid’s Garden by John William Waterhouse, so make sure to get your copy!

Just sign up for my newsletter here, and then email me. I’ll reply with the password. (You’ll also receive a free short story: Crossing the Naiad.)

Happy reading, as always!

 

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Password for Glory

Everyone subscribed to my newsletter will receive the password at month’s end to unlock the mini poster created from the cover of my novella Winter Glory. The poster features gorgeous art by Danish artist Kay Nielsen, so don’t miss out!

If you are seeing this post after July 30, 2021, you can still get the password.

Just sign up for my newsletter here, and then email me. I’ll reply with the password. (You’ll also receive a free short story: Crossing the Naiad.

Happy reading, as always!

 

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Get the Password

Everyone subscribed to my newsletter will receive the password at month’s end to unlock the mini poster created from the cover of my novel Livli’s Gift. The poster features gorgeous art by John William Waterhouse, so don’t miss out!

If you are seeing this post after May 31, 2021, you can still get the password.

Just sign up for my newsletter here, and then email me. I’ll reply with the password. (You’ll also receive a free short story: Crossing the Naiad.)

Happy reading, as always!

 

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Mists from the Deeps

     In the night, in the darkness, in the loneliest watch
           heart freezes
           soul cries out
           being shudders

     No answers on offer

     And yet . . . from despair, if I answer yes
           to loss
           to fear
           to death
     Yield assent without limit
     Assent, because all other answers lie barren

     Like earliest dawn, which seeps into the night sky so subtly
           my heart lightens
           a sense of possibility mists from the deeps
           some answer, unspoken, arrives

     Fragile and delicate, surrender to it, do not reach
           this succor may be accepted
           never taken
           new life in the bud

This poem and the accompanying photo appear in my new upcoming release, Journey into Grief.

For more excerpts from the book, see:
Cold Rage
Blessed Radiance
Futile Seeking
Risen

 

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Daylight Shines

           The sky is so blue and friendly
           almost as though it is her smile
           or maybe her laugh
           or both

           I have no sense of its infinite possibility
           ceding to the blackness of outer space
           going on and on past the moon
           past Mars

           No, this sky is immediate, personal
           happy like a baby blanket
           comforting like Mother
           and mine

           I am shielded, illuminated, protected
           under its canopy of brightness
           so long as daylight shines
           safe

This poem and the accompanying photo appear in my new upcoming release, Journey into Grief.

For more excerpts from the book, see:
Missing Her
No Beauty
Exiled
Despair

 

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Weep No More

A few days ago, I found myself thinking of the film Sense & Sensibility, the one with the screenplay written by Emma Thompson.

I love Jane Austen’s novels, and find this particular film adaptation to be very much to my taste. I re-read the book nearly every year, and re-watch the film with a similar frequency. Gorgeous work, both.

But the element surfacing in my mind this time was the song that Marianne sings near the middle of the film. The actress portraying Marianne is Kate Winslet, and it is her voice we hear.

Isn’t that lovely?

In my search for the clip, I learned more about the origins of the lyrics and and the melody. Patrick Doyle composed the score for the film, but borrowed a poem from Elizabethan times for the words that the actress would sing.

The authorship of the poem is a little uncertain, but it’s attributed to John Dowland, a court lute player for King James I from 1612 through 1626.

Weep you no more, sad fountains;
What need you flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
Heaven’s sun doth gently waste.
But my sun’s heavenly eyes
View not your weeping,
That now lie sleeping
Softly, now softly lies
Sleeping.

Sleep is a reconciling,
A rest that peace begets.
Doth not the sun rise smiling
When fair at even he sets?
Rest you then, rest, sad eyes,
Melt not in weeping
While she lies sleeping
Softly, now softly lies
Sleeping.

Other composers in addition to Doyle have been inspired by the verses, among them Gustav Holst, who included “Weep You No More” in his lieder, Six Songs Op. 16. Modern singer songwriter Sting composed a version (performed with lutenist Edin Karamazov) which I also found beautiful.

 

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