Singing Pilgrimage

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Deardorff on May 20, 2009 at 6:47pm

It might be worth considering The Odyssey as a song. Tradition says that Homer was a wandering minstrel, blind and old, who traveled from place to place singing to the music of his harp, in the courts of princes or the cottages of peasants, and dependent upon the voluntary offerings of his hearers for support. Maybe he too traveled in a Gypsy Wagon!

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Permalink Reply by Pushkara Sally Ashford on May 20, 2009 at 10:12pm

I resonate with the aspect of an odyssey - my own journey has surely been one. I'm reminded of the stories of the poet saints of India, many/most of whom were wandering minstrels, reveling in ecstatic states, chanting verses and aphorisms in the wind while undergoing any manner of hardships, quite misunderstood by folks who didn't share their vision. Tukaram was said to have written 5000 abhangas (devotional songs). Here's one of them:

First He Looked Confused

I could not lie anymore so I started to call my dog "God."
First he looked
confused,

then he started smiling, then he even
danced.

I kept at it: now he doesn't even
bite.

I am wondering if this
might work on
people?

From “Love Poems From God” by Daniel Ladinsky.
Copyright © 1999 by Daniel Ladinsky. Reprinted by permission of the author.

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