105 Ways to Give a Book

Poetry Friday: "Jerusalem"

Yesterday I got back from a short vacation and I'm feeling, well... happy.

My in-laws treated the families to a stay at The Homestead, and it was lovely. Beautiful place, fun activities, good food, and lots of family time. With my own family, I mean. Yes, we shared meals and swimming with our relatives, but the core of it was us four. And I liked it. And I like how much I liked spending time with these people, my family. We get along so well as a group, and when split off in different pairings, that's great too. We joke and talk and sing so easily. Yes, sing.

One of the songs we couldn't stop singing is Dan Bern's "Jerusalem." It starts off very Bob Dylan in sound and lyrics, but gets really fun along the way. So that's today's contribution to the songs-as-poetry series:
When I tell you that I love you
Don't test my love
Accept my love, don't test my love
Cause maybe I don't love you all that much
Don't ask what kind of music I'm gonna play tonight
Just stay awhile, hear for yourself awhile
And if you must put me in a box, make sure it's a big box
With lots of windows
And a door to walk through
And a nice high chimney
So we can burn burn burn everything that we don't like
And watch the ashes fly up to Heaven
...and then it starts to go off road with the rest of the lyrics, but in an awesome way. Usually I pick a video with some actual video-like content, but the live shows weren't as good to me as just listening to the song. The payoff starts at about 1:20. Stick with it.



Visit our Poetry Friday host at Steps and Staircases. Hope that your summer is treating you even half as well as this:

4 comments:

tanita✿davis said...

Pinkies up, yo!
Rock that civilized stuff!

Required indolence and tea breaks with song and dance thrown in. Sounds like the PERFECT vacation to me. And, isn't it NICE to find out how much you LIKE the people to whom you're related? That is AWESOME.

CrochetQueen said...

I'm new to your site and I love it. I see that #94 on your list is "I love Crafts"! Me too. Have you heard of my kid's book:Kids Can Do It Crocheting:
Kids Can Do It Crocheting: http://www.amazon.com/Crocheting-Kids-Gwen-Blakley-Kinsler/dp/1553371771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376675206&sr=1-1&keywords=kids+can+do+it+crocheting
I have a new one for grown ups: The Fine Art of Crochet: http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Art-Crochet-Innovative-Contemporary/dp/1481731866/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376675273&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Fine+Art+of+Crochet

BJ Lee said...

I love that you sing with your family. My family is big on singing too and so are my childhood friends. Love the lyrics. Thanks for sharing!

Lisa said...

Some of the best poetry is found in music! Thank you for sharing.