Battle of the Bards

Just got done playing a show with Star Called Sun, and we had a fantastic time. I managed to completely botch a song or two, which added to the fun for me. But I thought of this tonight.

The Guitarist Tunes Up

Frances Cornford

With what attentive courtesy he bent
Over his instrument;
Not as a lordly conqueror who could
Command both wire and wood,
But as a man with a loved woman might,
Inquiring with delight
What slight essential things she had to say
Before they started, he and she, to play.




Oddly enough, to my tastes music and poetry don't go together very well. Poets are fascinated by musicians and especially composers, and quite a few composers love setting poetry to music. But rarely is the result successful. It's like the two musics compete with each other and the reader loses both.


I think Cornford manages to have one of the few excellent verses that seems to say something about both music and poetry without harming either. I've often thought of taping this to my electronic tuner, although it'd be mostly symbolic considering the font size I'd need to use. 


I'll end with an interesting bit of trivia: Cornford was a granddaughter of Charles Darwin.