The Man Who Listened To The Stars: A Tribute to Murray Schafer

 

Listen to the music of the stars, he said                 

A hundred billion billion notes of light  
Resonant spiral galaxies  
Astral arpeggios 
A luminous cosmic composition   
Proclaiming 
Miracle 
Miracle 
Miracle 
 
Follow the thread of star-music, he said                     
  
Give back reverence for radiance  
Give back light for light 

Drumming at the edge of magic  
Riding thunder across the sky

Chanting a pathway to holiness  
Learning the language of wind  

Dancing the body past fervour  
Partnering with prayer  

Give back reverence for radiance  
Give back light for light  
  
Call it mystery  
Call it sacred mystery  
Call it Patria  
Call it home  
 
But midst the marvel discord sounds               
There’s anguish in the forest  
The trees are falling fast to the blade  
The rivers are writhing with toxins  
And animals lost with the loss of the wild   
Desolation sings descant over the world  
 
Hold fast to the thread of star-music, he said 
Hold fast to the star-song of wonder 
The beginning of the melody of healing 
 
Be a voice for the trees… exuberance in your lungs 
Be a voice for the rivers… rapids in your bloodstream  
Be a voice for the animals… wild with the animal in you 
 
The miracle is not lost 
Tune your senses to the world around you 
 
To the east  
Dawn unfurls a scroll of golden calligraphy   
To the south  
Blackberries astonish the mouth with the taste of sun 
To the west  
Twilight pours molten sky into lake reflection  
To the north  
Balsam enchants the air with a fragrant spell  
As above so below 
A luminous cosmic composition  
 
The miracle is not lost 
Listen to the music of the stars, he said            
 
Ecstatic listening  
That can change your life 
 
Ecstatic living 
On earth 
And elsewhere 
 
Give back reverence for radiance  
Give back light for light  
  
Call it mystery  
Call it sacred mystery  
Call it Patria  
Call it home  
 
 
 
 
Rae Crossman 

Published in MusiMid 

Brazilian Journal of Music and Media Studies