The Lost Words Blessing
Some simple wisdom from a beautiful folk song.
Dear friends,
Somehow, we are now only a month away from our next show at London’s iconic Wilton’s Music Hall, and what a lineup of life changing stories we’ve got for you! More on that in a moment, but first this exciting news: I think I have a new song that has changed my life, and I wanted to share it with you today.
The worst kept secret in OneTrackMinds is that I love folk music. Some of you may have heard my first OneTrackMinds story, about an Irish folk song called The Auld Triangle, which comforted me through one of the most terrifying nights of my life, but my love of folk songs of all kinds is something that gives me more habitual comfort on much less harrowing days. When our friend Prasanna Puwanarajah introduced me to Karine Polwart’s beautiful version of the Scottish folk song Freedom Come All Ye, I obsessed over it, playing on repeat for days afterwards. I let those gorgeous words - beautifully sung by one of Scotland’s greatest folk singers - soak into my bones until I knew the all the lyrics. I love that song. It didn’t change my life exactly - certainly not in the way it did for Prasanna - but it did deepen my joy for being in the world.
However, last week in my new cabin (think Bilbo’s hobbit hole if Tolkien had invented Ikea), while smoking my Gandalf pipe1 and drinking tea2, I was working away on the upcoming shows with Spotify playing in the background. Say what you like about the world-flattening dullness of the Spotify algorithm, but once in a while it throws up a treat, and on this day, it gifted me with this:
The song The Lost Words Blessing is a collaboration between Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, and Seckou Keita, and was inspired by the wonderful book by poet, lyricist and nature writer Robert MacFarlane The Lost Words (which is utterly gorgeous, and makes the most wonderful gift for just about anyone), and, along with a handful of other amazing musicians, created an album of songs called Spell Songs.
The Lost Words Blessing opens very simply, with the distant sound of birdsong, and it takes its time to get going. It isn’t for another 22 seconds that the first piano note enters and the world of the song begins to light up.
The singers begin the first verse:
Enter the wild with care, my love
And speak the things you see
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow
And even as you travel far,
From heather, crag and river
May you like the little fisher,
Set the stream alight with glitter
May you enter now as otter
Without falter into water
Now, even if you don’t have children that you wish to bathe in the start of this simple spell, isn’t this something you might wish for someone you love? It certainly is for me. Beyond my two little beating hearts at home,I think of my wife, of my friends, of the people who I’ve been lucky enough to meet in my life who have given me kindness that I carry with me.
It’s such a simple spell, to make a wish that someone you love may make the water in which they swim glitter like a little fisher. There’s nothing overblown about wishing someone the smooth journey of a water dweller in a flowing stream. And yet these simple words say so much of the desire that we have for our loved ones to sparkle and be safe. To journey forwards with confidence.
I won’t dive into the rest of the lyrics, because much of the spell, as with any song, is in the music. But I urge you to take a moment to listen to it today. Take 4 minutes and 6 seconds to step away from your work. It is pure mindfulness, connection, nature, kindness and hope.
I woke up this morning with a dark cloud hanging over me and a desire not to have to do the many (or any) of the things on my list. I listened to this song – and it made me want to call Kristian. So, I did, and after we spoke I felt a little better and now I’m joyfully getting through my list. It was a small slposh in my morning but I’m enjoying its ripples even now.
I don’t know where the rest of this day will go for you - or, for that matter, for me. If your mind is sunny and free today, and you are savouring the many joys and purposes of being alive, then I’m glad and celebrate it with you.
However, if you woke up feeling, like me, not so great, then perhaps listen to the song, and take solace from the last lines of this most wonderful of spells:
Even as the hour grows bleaker,
Be the singer and the speaker
And in city and in forest,
Let the larks become your chorus
And when every hope is gone,
Let the raven call you home.
Listen to Spell Songs on Apple Music or on Spotify.
Kristian and I love putting on the show for you all. It’s a proper labour of love, and it’s fuelled by your support and the unbridled gratitude we feel for you and all the generous spirited people that come to share their stories on the Wilton’s stage.
Our show on May 31st is no exception. Elf Lyons, Karan Kandhari, Gethin Anthony, Claire Cartwright and Steph Singer will be our storytellers, and I can promise you a night to remember. Tickets are selling fast. Don’t miss out.
As Kristian hinted in last week’s newsletter, we’ve lots of exciting news, which we’ll be unveiling as soon as it’s all official, but until then, we love you and can’t wait to see you on 31st May!
AS
Next Show - Friday May 31st | Tickets Here
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I am joking. I do not smoke a pipe of any sort, least of all a Gandalfian one…
I do however drink tea. So very much tea…
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