I wondered what it was but never caught the title, and snippets of the tune would play in my head day after day.
The evening before New Years Eve, a tv ad had a song playing while requesting donations. I recognized the melody and now heard words to the song in question for the first time:
In the Bleak Midwinter
Frosty wind did moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen, snow on snow
Snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long ago
Over thirty years ago, my dear mama did this cross-stitch.
It had adorned her house at Christmas since heck was a pup, and for the last 10 years has graced my holiday door. I've always loved what the poetry says, and the humble little drummer there.
It turns out, it is the last verse of the song! How is it I've never known this poem was part of a song? And how did I never even hear this song?
It has inspired me to return to my music: Piano, guitar, voice, flute, and to tune my Minstrel's harp, which Mama gave me for my birthday one year.
I dusted it off and tuned it that very day, even managing to pluck out the song on it.
There are several renowned artists who have recorded the arrangement I refer to, from Susan Boyle to Dan Fogelberg, from Sissel to James Taylor, as well as plenty of choruses and boys' choirs. Dan, Sissel, and Susan are among my favorite renditions, and it's hard to choose just one to share, as some singers include more verses.
I do love how things are sometimes revealed multifaceted and with an unrealized history about them. All along, Mama's handiwork - a stitched short poem - was part of a beautiful song I was unaware of.
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. (Ecc.3)
A new season and a new year, may we all realize a renewed purpose.
