Chamodi Waidyathilaka

“The First Spring Day

I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,
If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate,
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun And crocus res are kindling one by one:
Sing, robin, sing;
I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring.
I wonder if the springtide of this year
Will bring another Spring both lost and dear;
If heart and spirit will nd out their Spring,
Or if the world alone will bud and sing:
Sing, hope, to me;
Sweet notes, my hope, soft notes for memory.
The sap will surely quicken soon or late,
The tardiest bird will twitter to a mate;
So Spring must dawn again with warmth and bloom,
Or in this world, or in the world to come:
Sing, voice of Spring,
Till I too blossom and rejoice and sing.”
― Christina Rossetti, The Complete Poems

“Two Pursuits
A voice said: ‘Follow, follow:’ and I rose
And followed far into the dreamy night, Turning my back upon the pleasant light.
It led me where the bluest water ows,
And would not let me drink; where the corn grows
I dared not pause, but went uncheered by sight Or touch; until at length in evil plight
It left me, wearied out with many woes. Some time I sat as one bereft of sense:
But soon another voice from very far Called: ‘Follow, follow:’ and I rose again.°
Now on my night has dawned a blesséd star;
Kind, steady hands my sinking steps sustain, And will not leave me till I shall go hence.”
― Christina Rossetti, The Complete Poems

“Wood Music: A Playlist
Foals, ‘Birch Tree’, 2015
Arnold Bax, November Woods, 1917
The Beatles, ‘Norwegian Wood’, 1965
Igor Stravinsky, ‘Berceuse’, from The Firebird, 1910
A Woodland Reading List
William Boyce and David Garrick, ‘Heart of Oak’, 1760 George Butterworth, The Banks of Green Willow, 1913 ——, ‘Loveliest of Trees’, from ‘A Shropshire Lad’, 1911 Editors, ‘I Want a Forest’, 2009
Edward Elgar, String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83, 1919 ——, Quintet in A minor, Op., 84, 1918
——, Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, 1919
——, Owls: An Epitaph, Op. 27, 1907
Keane, ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, 2004
Lindisfarne, Dingly Dell, 1972
Oasis, ‘Songbird’, 2002
Pink Floyd, ‘Careful with That Axe, Eugene’, 1969
Camille Saint-Saëns, ‘Le Coucou au Fond des Bois’ (‘The Cuckoo in the
Depths of the Wood’), 1886
Pablo Casals, ‘El Cant dels Ocells’ (‘Song of the Birds’), 1961
Antonín Dvořák, Waldesruhe (‘Silent Woods’) for cello and orchestra, Op.
68, no. 5, 1894
Edvard Grieg, Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, no. 4, ‘Little Bird’, 1886
Franz Liszt, Legende S.175 no. 1, St Francis of Assisi preaching to the
birds, 1863
Monty Python, ‘The Lumberjack Song’, 1975
Van Morrison, ‘Redwood Tree’, 1972
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ‘Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja’ (‘The Bird-
catcher, that’s me’), from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), 1791 George Perlman, ‘A Birdling Sings’, from ‘Ghetto Sketches’, 1931 Pulp, ‘The Trees’, 2001
Radiohead, King of Limbs, 2011
Robert Schumann, ‘Jäger auf der Lauer’ (‘Hunters on the Lookout’), from Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), Op. 82, no. 2, 1850–51
——, ‘Freundliche Landschaft’ (‘Friendly Landscape’), from Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), Op. 82, no. 5, 1850–51
Jean Sibelius, ‘The Aspen’, no. 3, ‘The Birch’, no. 4, ‘The Spruce’, no. 5, from Op. 75, ‘The Trees’, 1914–19
Trad., ‘The Trees They Do Grow High’
——, ‘The Willow Tree’
The Verve, ‘Sonnet’, from Urban Hymns, 1997 Paul Weller, ‘Wild Wood’, 1993”
― John Lewis-Stempel, The Wood: The Life & Times of Cockshutt Wood

“When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;°
And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.°”
― Christina Rossetti, The Complete Poems