Collect the dots

To a Friend, by Amy Lowell

I ask but one thing of you, only one,
That always you will be my dream of you;
That never shall I wake to find untrue
All this I have believed and rested on,
Forever vanished, like a vision gone
Out into the night. Alas, how few
There are who strike in us a chord we knew
Existed, but so seldom heard its tone
We tremble at the half-forgotten sound.
The world is full of rude awakenings
And heaven-born castles shattered to the ground,
Yet still our human longing vainly clings
To a belief in beauty through all wrongs.
O stay your hand, and leave my heart its songs!

I’ve been listening to my French music playlist on youtube while writing this evening. It’s a collection of older classic French songs that I like, and new/current songs that I collect when I’m with my Mum in France. There are a lot of great voices on this playlist, made all the sexier for singing in French. (When I last watched French music television I noted that I especially liked the range of artists’ ages and looks - it was refreshing to watch.)

If I get the music right, I find background music really helpful for steering my mood to a certain place or building on a feeling I want to hold to while I’m writing. What I’m writing right now is partly set in America and partly set in Japan and listening to French music it turns out is not helpful at all! When I write I have a film of the story playing in my mind that I then try to get down on paper. This music has completely distracted me from the film I was thinking of and instead I keep finding my thoughts have drifted to scenes of driving through French countryside in hot & hazy summer weather!

My mind is like a sponge. Sorry awesome French playlist - I’m going to have to change my background music.