St. Patrick’s Day

The Stolen Child #Musical Monday

I first heard this song several years ago at a concert by a group called Four Shillings Short. Last year after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, I heard Loreena McKennitt’s version, which I’m featuring today. I found it more powerful than that of Four Shillings Short. Because of the many deaths caused by COVID19, the last two lines of the chorus resonate with me the most. “For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”

According to Wikipedia, Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist who records songs with Celtic, New Age, and Middle Eastern themes. Known for her soprano vocals, she has sold more than fourteen million records worldwide. “The Stolen Child” is a setting of a poem by William Butler Yeats about faeries tempting a child to come away with them. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I hope you enjoy Loreena McKennitt’s powerful version of this beautiful song.

By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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The Stolen Child #Re-Blog #Music

To commemorate St. Patrick’s Day, here’s an oldy but goody from two years ago. May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

via Saturday Song: Four Shillings Short–The Stolen Child

New! The Red Dress

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Saturday Song: Four Shillings Short–The Stolen Child

Greetings from sunny Florida, where I’m spending ten days with my brother and his family. Today’s song is a setting of a poem by W. B. Yeats. A while back, I attended a concert by the group performing this, and you can read about that here. Preceding the song, you’ll hear a reading of the poem in both Irish and English. The text, which I copied from the Academy of American Poets website, is below the video. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

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The Stolen Child
W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we’ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he’s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He’ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand.

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Abbie Johnson Taylor
We Shall Overcome
How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems
My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds
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Author abbiejohnsontaylorPosted on March 17, 2018March 9, 2018Categories Inspiration, PoetryTags Abbie Johnson Taylor, Fairies, Four Shillings Short, Irish Culture, St. Patrick's Day, Stolen Children, The Stolen Child, W. B. Yeats1 Comment on Saturday Song: Four Shillings Short–The Stolen Child

St. Patrick’s Day Blog Party Invitation

Thanks to the inspiration of another blogger, on Friday, March 17^th, I’ll be hosting my first ever blog party. No matter where you live, you can come to this party from the comfort of your own computer, smart phone, or other device that can access my blog. Bring your own food and drink, and let’s have a great time. Here’s how it will work.

Bright and early Friday morning, I’ll start things off by re-blogging a post from several years ago that will be fitting for St. Patrick’s Day. At that time, you will be invited to select a favorite post from your own blog and copy a link to it along with a description of your blog in the comments field. The post doesn’t need to be Irish-related. If you don’t have a blog, you can choose a favorite post from a blog you follow. Afterward, you can read other postings in the comments section, and you may be inspired to start a blog of your own if you don’t already have one.

The idea here is to meet other bloggers and give ourselves more exposure. Please share this with your friends, using the social media links below or by email. Let’s start the weekend off right with a great St. Patrick’s Day blog party.

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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

We Shall Overcome

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Click to hear an audio trailer.

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Author abbiejohnsontaylorPosted on March 14, 2017March 7, 2017Categories InspirationTags Abbie Johnson Taylor, Blog Parties, Having Fun, Irish, St. Patrick's DayLeave a comment on St. Patrick’s Day Blog Party Invitation