Good Friend

Steve Bell
Signpost Music
Lyric inspired and adapted from the poem “Mayflies” by Richard Wilbur
Dedicated to Heather Bishop and Judith MacDougall

In late spring ’10 I took a five-day retreat at a friend’s cabin in southern Manitoba. The weather was perfect and I spent many an hour sitting motionlessly outside the cabin, basking in the thrum of creation. I’m not typically a “nature” guy but for some reason I was graced with an unusual (for me anyway) capacity to delight in the joyous cacophony of life from the busy ants to the wheeling songbirds. At night, as the breeze rustled the poplars and the sun receded, the deep cosmos shone out with “diamonds from the other side.” Richard Wilbur’s elegant poem Mayflies inspired gratitude and language to respond. This song surfaced to commemorate the gift of that day.

Lyric:

On somber night
When shivering clouds bemoan
The aching of souls alone

Then stars appear
One arc of their dance shows clear
And glittering song intone

Be but your own good friend
And be good to the other
Cherish those sisters and brothers
Along the road

And to the earth extend
Every reverence and wonder
Tend to the wounds of your blunders
Honour God who formed our home

When sun is low
Bright bands in forest glow
Fair fiats of Love. Behold!

See shimmering flies
In their quadrillions rise
Weaving a cloth of gold