Three poems that sing, by Necklace of Stars writer Paula Elizabeth Tate:
Skylark Oh such pleasure from your songs Listening to your silver tongues Let me ride upon your wings Hearing all the joys you bring. Or I shall float as a cloud Side-by-side with you reside? For all the treasures of the world Do not compare to thee, as none has thy sweet harmony. And I shall polish stars at night The moon will beam with sheer delight But only when the skylark sings Dancing round a million springs, for my heart’s a-flutter, a sky of wings. Paula Elizabeth Tate —— After Shelley "We look before and after And pine for what is not Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." Yet on we strive with songs of love Hoping that one’s soul be reached Never sure what would inspire Knowing only our own desire Until we hear that voice from thee, then all our dreams lie — silently. Paula Elizabeth Tate —— The Song of Twilight The distant calls enchanted As birds sang from a tree No tender words were needed They were in the melody. Joined by sudden ripples From the singing brook In that fleeting moment In that fleeting look. The breeze was also humming In a gentle way For now’s the time for twilight, The closing of the day. As soft grey shades of evening Make silver threads on leaves Twirling to the music The flurried dance of trees. I stopped to search and listen Some precious time I took In that fleeting moment In that fleeting look. Paula Elizabeth Tate
A Necklace of Stars, working with older people in Derbyshire, is supported by Arts Council England, Arts Derbyshire, DCC Public Health and Derbyshire County Council Home Library Service. This project is particularly aimed at countering isolation; during the pandemic we’ve been working using distance methods – post and phone conversations. Alongside writing and embroidery themed around childhood lullabies, we invite written responses to the pandemic, so that people can share their experiences as an antidote to lockdown loneliness. Paula Elizabeth Tate’s poems are chock-full of rhythm and melody. Whether she’s taken flight with a skylark, in mid-conversation with the ghost of PB Shelley, or listening to the sounds of evening, she is a poet whose words sing.