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
Look to the sky with care, my love
And speak the things you see
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow
And even as you journey on past dying stars exploding
Like the gilded one in flight, leave your little gifts of light
And in the dead of night my darling, find the gleaming eye of starling
Like the little aviator, sing your heart to all dark matter
Walk through the world with care, my love
And sing the things you see
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow
And even as you stumble through machair sands eroding
Let the fern unfurl your grieving, let the heron still your breathing
Let the selkie swim you deeper, oh my little silver-seeker
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
What a beautiful poem. It has so much power when read aloud. Thanks for sharing.
Lynn, I was a bit confused–is the wonderful poem above the lyrics of Karine Polwart’s musical creation using Robert MacFarlane’s poetry in The Lost Words or did MacFarlane combine some of his poetry for the lyrics? I was wondering because I have MacFarlane and Jackie Morris’s book The Lost Words and recognized many lines as his. (It’s an incredible and fabulous book, well-worth getting.) The Lost Words website doesn’t seem to make this entirely clear. Maybe I should just get the CD and find out more!
Thanks for posting this.
Okay, I looked this up and you can listen to The Lost Words’ cd on youtube. It’s so lovely, I’m going to get it! Here is a link to the playlist of the songs, which the musicians created from MacFarlane’s words in the book.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbqfiDIk1HxMKRkotBAAfAQ
Thanks so much for posting this, Lynn! I’m really glad to find out about it.
Especially this song: The Lost Words: Blessing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1xFYpXuWA&list
Thanks Melody, and for doing this great research! I love Karine Polwart and bought the book of the Lost Words which just arrived. I didn’t really know anything else about it.