Happy Birthday Rabbie!

It’s the birthday of Robert Burns! Or at least it is going to be very, very soon! Apparently his birth date is debatable but am willing to not get too pedantic about that point. Point is, his poetry and fascinating life is definitely worth remembering and celebrating.

I think what I love most about Burns and his poetry is that he was inspired by such ordinary things. You feel like you get to know him a little bit through reading his poems. He wrote about work, surroundings, family and probably most of all and most famously about love. He is well known for being “casual” when it came to love and that comes across in some of his work. Sometimes I think people forget that he loved dearly though. He loved and he lost. “Ae fond kiss” is heart breaking and it shows a totally different side to him. He was real.

I cannot choose a favourite poem. It changes constantly. But since I mentioned it before, here is a video of Karen Matheson and Paul Brady performing “Ae fond kiss”. I love, love, love Karen Matheson’s voice. Teamed with Burns action = perfecto!

Oh and on a more ridiculous note (to stop me getting teary over the beautiful song) I found these rather wonderful shoes on www.zazzle.com. Weird? Very much so. Definitely considering them as a wardrobe essential though. Maybe taking it too far. Hum.

Anyway…Happy Birthday Rabbie! (251 years, I think! Eep!)

that man to man, the world o’er, shall brothers be for a’ that.

Only one more video, yes. I feel there has been a lack of Robert Burns in my life recently and this has made it a bit better:

all around you?(2)

so i have been reading this poem a lot since last week and i have been thinking a lot about it too. i always find poetry quite a bizarre thing- there’s so much going on in a poem; some of it jumps straight out at you and other things take their time to become clear and then you have a wee “ooh” moment.

this past week has been really busy. sometimes it’s hard to see things in the busy times and i often feel it’s during the busy times that you are wanting to see, you are wanting to absorb everything but then everything just sort of passes you by…sometimes i can see god working so clearly in the world, my life, friends and family. i can see him in my church, all the change that is happening there and in the fellowship that has built up so strongly over the past few months. and yeah, i can see him in the pain but at the same time it’s hard. it’s in the pain i should reach out but then what if you feel so unworthy of this love? what if you just want to run away despite knowing that there is grace waiting to meet you? i would like a rewind button but i don’t think you get those. love is overwhelming; i have experienced it so much this week on so many levels, from so many people. unconditional love…i can’t get my head round it. and it’s selfish, but i seem to be running away from it in my overwhelmed state. i know i should be doing the exact opposite and the really bizarre thing is; i still can. it’s never going to go away. maybe the only thing holding me back from really seeing and feeling is myself.

“Sometimes
I listen for your word
and hear nothing.

And sometimes
you make so much noise
I can hear nothing else.”

 

hum. this needs more thoughtage.