Be….
Good Morning Friends,
I have been giving you these poems since the First of June 2018.
From 4th Jan 19, I started doing something different. In addition to my own inspirational poems everyday, I started giving you, on every Friday, a song or poem that has inspired me. Today is the sixth and it is a Grammy Award winning soundtrack by Neil Diamond for the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull based on Richard Bach’s famous novella by the same name.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach, is a novella that I feel everyone must read. It is about a seagull but applies to all of us. It is about how Jonathan Livingston learns to go beyond known speed barriers of flying, is expelled from the flock, seeks perfection by himself and hence happiness and finally become a teacher for all those like him who are outlawed for not conforming.
Richard Bach wrote a series of short-stories that were published in the Flying magazine in 1960s. The novella in the present form was first published in 1970. It remained on top of New York Times Best Seller list for the greater part of the year.
Here is for you to understand the award-winning soundtrack and the story of the book:
| Side one | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Line notes | Length |
| 1. | “Prologue” | And here begins our story – the sky, the sea, the flock. | 3:19 |
| 2. | “Be” | Introduction of Jonathan – his flight and fall. | 6:28 |
| 3. | “Flight of the Gull” | Jonathan is carried to the heights of ambition, and to near catastrophe. | 2:23 |
| 4. | “Dear Father” | Battered, and near death, Jonathan asks for reasons. | 5:12 |
| 5. | “Skybird” | Returning home to show what he has learned, his acrobatics only serve to anger the flock elders. He is put on trial, and forever…outcast. | 1:12 |
| 6. | “Lonely Looking Sky” | Alone and adrift. | 3:12 |
| Side two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Line notes | Length |
| 1. | “The Odyssey (Be – Lonely Looking Sky – Dear Father)” | And so begins a journey, an odyssey, a test of the spirit. | 9:28 |
| 2. | “Anthem” | “Transcend, purify, glorious.” | 3:03 |
| 3. | “Be” | Jonathan returns to teach the flock. | 1:06 |
| 4. | “Skybird” | The lesson | 2:18 |
| 5. | “Dear Father” | Rebuked again by the elders, Jonathan attempts to rally the flock. | 1:14 |
| 6. | “Be” | Recapitulation and farewell to Fletcher | 3:26 |
I am only giving you ‘Be’ as an illustrative example of the outstanding soundtrack.
Before I do so, here is a small introduction by me:
Limits are meant for us to be broken,
Even though for years these are written and spoken;
But when a man tries to go beyond,
The others with unkindness respond,
And declare him as outlawed and outspoken.
However, you are never alone when you’ve God,
To your resolve He always gives a nod;
He gives your resolve wings,
And arranges all those other things,
So that finally even non-believers applaud.
All that you’ve to do is just ‘Be’,
In your new pursuit find joy and glee,
Don’t give up hope,
And think you can’t cope,
For finally the world belongs to thee.
Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy ‘Be’ by Neil Diamond:
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet’s eye
You may find him
If you may find him
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may
As a page that aches for words
Which speaks on a theme that’s timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus
As a page that aches for word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your day
…..and Believe.
