Abbie at Play!: A Beautiful Song of Friendship

Friday, November 7, 2008

A Beautiful Song of Friendship

I would like to share here a beautiful song shared by David Epston in an article he wrote on Narrative Approaches.com, "David Epston Remembers Michael White."

To me, this song speaks, not only of the beauty of friendship, but the beauty of a relationship that respects, that holds sacred, and validates each other, that celebrates each one's uniqueness, and which is healing and growth-enhancing because it values the self of the other.

Of the song, David Epston writes:
"I wanted to end this with a song. This song was written and sung by Margarita Boom from Mexico. She did so at my request when narrative therapy was invited by the Cuban Psychiatric Association and Cuban Social Work Association to introduce narrative therapy to Cuba.... Margarita's song speaks to how we hoped to meet them and embodies for me the 'spirit' of narrative therapy- that 'loving eye' I referred to by which Michael looked to those he met through the course of his work and his life."

Brother of the Sun and of Time

Let me hold your story
and fill my hands
with new sensations
that I've never seen before
which have never existed
which I couldn't have understood
without your song
They bear your name
and trace out a road.
Let me take with me
a piece of our
time together
and savour the warmth
a friend leaves behind.
Brother of the sun and of time
who cares what colour the wind is?
We are joined by the taste of a
dream
Of being hand in hand
holding
a small piece,
a bit of a world
where you are allowed
to walk at your own pace
to feel what you feel
and, although different,
to sing your own song
Let me
take your conscience
and leave taking with me
the certainty
that although we are different
we're alike
That the heart beats
to the same beat
but your form
creates a new rhythm
Let me learn your music
and enrich my world
with the look of your eyes
and to find in your soul
a new home.
Brother of the sun and of time
who cares what colour the wind is?
We are joined by the taste of a
dream.
(photo by Sir Mervs at flickr)

1 comment:

do.gooderNovember 8, 2008 at 8:42 AM
I wasn't aware that Michael White had passed away. I attended a workshop of his in a psychotherapy conference where he showed videos of a couple of his sessions. I could hardly understand his "'strine" accent, so I focused on the nonverbals, his and his clients. Language is the currency of narrative therapy, so I may have missed a lot. But this "limitation" also allowed me to observe the other ways he communicated his gift of healing--with gentle voice and caring presence. That's a very loving eulogy by D.E. and a beautiful song.
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The Inner Self Communicates With Us Through Our Art

"For a person who works improvisationally most of the time, it may surprise you to know that art for me is about visual communication. The odd thing is that the communication is first and foremost from my heart to me. It's my inner, hidden self which speaks through the work of my hands.
The less I try to control the outcome; the less I fuss with "getting it right," the less I'm concerned about making art, the more of my truth is revealed. And when my truth comes out in the open, conveyed in my beadwork, I feel a great sense of wholeness, connection, and satisfaction."

--- Robin Atkins, bead artist

This is what I learned: that everybody is talented, original, and has something important to say. Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express. Everybody is original, if she tells the truth, if she speaks from herself. But it must be from her true self and not the self she thinks she should be.

So remember these two things: you are talented and you are original. Be sure of that. I say this because self-trust is one of the very most important things in writing....

-Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write

The Voyage to a Place Inside Oneself

For a voyage to a destination, wherever it may be, is also a voyage inside oneself; even as a cyclone carries along with it the center in which it must ultimately come to rest.

At these moments I think not only of the places I have been to but also of the distances I have traveled within myself without a friend or ship; and of the long way yet to go before I come home within myself and within the journey.

And always when the curtains are lifted, the night is without, peering in steadily and constantly, with the light of the stars far beyond.

- Laurens van der Post, Venture to the Interior

Brother of the Sun and of Time

Let me hold your story
and fill my hands
with new sensations
that I've never seen before
which have never existed
which I couldn't have understood
without your song.
They bear your name
and trace out a road.
Let me take with me
a piece of our time together
and savour the warmth
a friend leaves behind.

Brother of the sun and of time
who cares what colour the wind is?
We are joined by the taste of a
dream.
Of being hand in hand
holding
a small piece,
a bit of a world
where you are allowed
to walk at your own pace,
to feel what you feel
and, although different,
to sing your own song

Let me take your conscience
and leave taking with me
the certainty
that although we are different
we're alike
That the heart beats
to the same beat
but your form
creates a new rhythm
Let me learn your music
and enrich my world
with the look of your eyes
and to find in your soul
a new home.

Brother of the sun and of time
who cares what colour the wind is?
We are joined by the taste of a
dream.

--- song by Margarita Boom
(see related post, A Beautiful Song of Friendship)