A Musical Wordsmith

I had never heard the word Sprechensang until I read one of the poems my daughter Megan wrote. It means, apparently, something between singing and speaking, spoken singing. It doesn’t feature even in a large dictionary. So how did Megan know this when she was only 15 years old. It is just one of the many many questions I ask myself about Megan. My daughter was an equine veterinary surgeon. She died of cancer, aged 32. There was so much that Megan knew, not just about science and music and a million other things, but also about life, the spirit, the things people wonder about. Her understanding of the connection between the physical and the spiritual world is present in her poetry much of which has been published in the book Wordsmith: The Gift of a Soul.

Music – A Lasting Expression of Love

Recently I heard that one of her poems, Sprechensang, had been read at a wedding. It gave me great joy to know that Megan’s words and thoughts continue to bring pleasure to others. This poem is connected to one of Megan’s musical compositions. It is a piece for piano and saxophone and she called it Indelible Expression, taking the thought from the last two lines of the poem.

Megan at her wedding in 2004

Recorded on YouTube

The piece was performed by two students at Megan’s old school and can be heard on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQOwPhlfUAQ ©Megan Young

Sprechensang

If music be the food of love
Play on for me, my love.
If music be a way of life
I live for you, my love.
To sign my name in sprechensang
Where noble kings and princes leap.
Expressions only words and notes
Where others stumble I will keep.
For music be my alibi
And sure, you let her in, not I.
But, beneath music as my guise
Your soul is mine my love.
Thus, I will tame the spirit so,
Play on for us to dance and lo
Beneath the moon, with music soft
Our hearts combine and harmonise.
Forever and always indelible on my mind
As music might fade but never is lost.

©Megan Young