The Gift

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When the email arrived carrying a link to ‘The Gift’ I wasn’t really expecting it.

Sure, when Ian Hanchet (the gift giver) commented on my poem “If I Could...” he wrote, “I was inspired to immediately pick up my guitar and melody flowed from me. I recorded it on my phone, but I need to become more acquainted with the rhythms of your poem so that I may do each phrase justice. Too bad my life just got super busy. Maybe Next week I can return to this work of wonder.” When I read his words I thought, ‘how lovely’ and promptly wrote back to thank him and to let him know how excited I was he liked the poem that much.

And then, I let it go.

Yesterday, Ian emailed to say he’d finished the song and included the audio link.

I cried as I listened to it. Not just because Ian is a talented musician with the kind of voice that makes me feel like I am sipping an after-midnight scotch in a moody, crowded jazz bar somewhere along a dimly lit side-street in Soho only those who ‘know’ can get to after going down a flight of stairs leading to a deep red door that opens into the mystical world of late-night jazz, but also because in his gift I received something beautiful and precious — The gift of being seen.

I wrote back to Ian after listening to what he calls, ‘our song’ – which in and of itself feels like a rare gem to be treasured always – and told him how special his gift is.

Ian’s gift also carried me back in memory to another gift of a song I received years ago from my dear friend, artist, musician, writer Max C.

In 2014, when I changed the name of this blog to Dare Boldly, Max had read my declaration of identity and felt inspired to send me a piece of music he’d written to accompany it. He asked me to record my voice reading the declaration and then, he put it to his music.

Like Ian’s gift, Max made me feel ‘seen’.

I hadn’t forgotten about Max’s gift, though I hadn’t thought of it in a long while. What I had forgotten, however, was my declaration of identity – it’s the one I share at the top of this post.

Full circle.

That’s what Ian’s gift brings me. Full circle back to remembering – I am the song. My song.

What a powerful and liberating gift. To remember…

We are each ‘the song’ of our life.

We are each, The Song Maker. The Song Singer. The Song.

Let us always sing outloud. Let us each sing of truth, beauty, kindness, hospitality, generosity of spirit, Love.

Let us sing each other awake in a world we create together of beauty, awe and wonder.

Thank you Ian for your gift of many gifts.

I revel in gratitude.

___________

PS — along with being a musician, singer/song-writer, poet, Ian is an amazing writer, deep thinker, music historian and generous human being. You can find him on his blog, Vignettes and Bagatelles.

Click HERE to listen to ‘our song’ If I Could Give You My Heart.

28 thoughts on “The Gift”

      • OK … so, that begs the question of “So, what’s next?” … my suggestion would be, 1) investigate the Grammy nomination process, 2) start publicizing/marketing that song with lyric credits to you; 3) get lots of people you can influence to ‘buy it’ on an Apple store or Youtube or however it is people market their own music these days; 4) win the grammy; 5) get a recording-deal contract; 6) write more songs; 7) repeat … nutin’ to it!

        Cheers,

        Mark

        p.s. it’s 100% you; all I did was tell you your piece should be a song … and from reading the responses you are getting, I was right. And you’ve picked a fitting composer to team with … so, write-on …

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  4. Hi Louise, I had the pleasure of listening to your beautiful words put to music last night when Ian shared it with me. I was very moved by the collaboration and am even more so reading your blog post today, especially the part about being seen. I am often envious of Ian and the way he pulls ideas, words and melodies from the swirling thoughts in his head, not to mention outside sources of inspiration. Trust me when I tell you, his superpower is indeed shining a light on those of us who may feel unseen or unheard. As a result, your words have not only been seen but they have also been heard in the loveliest of melodies. ❤️🙏

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  10. What a beautiful compliment to have a musician create a song for your poem! It’s absolutely lovely, both the poem and the song by Ian. I agree his voice is like midnight scotch 🙂 And I will now listen to Max’s song. Congratulations, Louise. I can’t think of a better way to be ‘seen’ than through our words.

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