They say brevity is the source of wit; I can affirm that a stomach flu is the source of brevity.
So I’ll be brief:
The second part of our quodlibet is this chant by Windsong Dianne Martin. As noted on the UUA Song Information page,
This song was written on Spencer’s Butte, Eugene, Oregon in 1985. The composer writes, “I was sitting with my friend David, looking out over the vast view of the Willamette Valley, wondering about the ancient roots of the area, talking about the original native tribes who lived there before the white settlers came. We became quiet and sat in meditation for a long time. I was shifted out of meditation dramatically when I became aware that I was singing the song Mother I Feel You Under My Feet, Mother I Hear Your Heartbeat. I sang it for a long time and was very moved by the experience.”
And here are the lyrics:
Mother I feel you under my feet,
Mother I hear your heart beat,Chorus:
Heya heya heya ya heya heya ho,
Heya heya heya heya heya hoMother I hear you in the river song,
Eternal waters flowing on and on,Chorus
Father I see you when the eagle flies,
Light of the Spirit, gonna take us higher.Chorus
I wrestle again, as I always do on these pages, with the exclusively binary language and always wish for “parent” to be one of the verses along with “mother” and “father”… but of course that wasn’t a consideration then, nor is it appropriate to just change a living composer’s lyrics.
Anyway. It’s a good tune and an easy thing to sing – it’s not written as a canon or round but it would certainly work like that if you were not doing the quodlibet thing.
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Photo of the view from Spencer’s Butte by Tess Freeman/Oregon Daily Emerald.
3 responses to “STJ#1070, Mother I Feel You”
A note on the gender issue… what if “Mother” didn’t equate to woman, and “Father” didn’t equate to man? Perhaps these (mother, father) are roles that can be acted out by any gender. Just a thought.
I have spent many long moments singing this heartwarming song by my friend Windsong. Thanks for sharing it and reminding me.
Looks like there’s a dead link: https://www.uua.org/worship/music/hymnals/journey/songinformation — is giving an “Access Denied”