[David Callin]

Cantique de Noël
23 February 1916

To hear Caruso sing it, is to be taken back
to a room you’ve never known,
antimacassars, a gramophone,
the needle’s crackling travel in the track
through shellac, an aspidistra
listening in, the lights turned down.

The French are holding on at Verdun.
If music can be saved,
and made to sing, a cricket in a cage,
how farther off goodwill
and peace on Earth? Noël,
Noël! Oh well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFKrQ41oDLM

[Glenn Wright]

Hi, David—

This is wonderful! If only we could find a way to make goodwill and peace on earth permanent, keeping them in a protective sleeve, taking them out and releasing them into the air in moments of need.

I enjoyed your clever rhymes and wry humor in the last line.

One nit: I would delete the comma in S1L1. You don’t want a comma separating subject and verb, and it causes a speed bump in the line that throws off the rhythm (at least, to my ear).

I have always liked this carol, and because of your poem, I did a little research. Ironically, this anthem of peace and goodwill was very controversial when it first appeared, even managing to get itself banned by the Catholic Church for a while. Oh, well.

Merry/Happy Christmas.

Glenn

[David Callin]

Thanks for that, Glenn. Very pleased you enjoyed it. Well done for following my fanciful train of thought. At least you have proved that it is followable. I was beginning to wonder.

Christmas cheers

David

[Jim Moonan]

.
This song is a touchstone for my Christmases. Your language, especially in the first stanza, is wonderfully evocative of something I can't quite name. These lines:

the needle’s crackling travel in the track
through shellac

Are worth the price of admission.

Merry Christmas, David.

.

[John Riley]

This is a nice addition to the Christmas spirit, David. It’s charming in how it looks back. Thanks for the link as well.

[Jim Ramsey]

Hi David,

This is a very good poem, right down to the understated and reflective "Oh well," at the end. As we know, "the war to end all wars" did not succeed in that respect. The French did win at Verdun, 800,000 lives the cost. No nits and thanks for all the things I learned by Googling. But importantly, nothing I learned later was necessary to greatly enjoy the poem on first reading.

All the best,
Jim

[David Callin]

Glenn, I should add that I missed, at first, your cunning use of "Oh well" at the end of your comment. Well played. I enjoyed it the second time around, at least.

Thanks Jim, John and Jim again. All the very best to you all.

Festive cheers

David