It is an important fact that much of the poetry which in centuries gone by would have landed on the pages of a poetry magazine, journal or anthology, is, nowadays, channelled into a song lyric. Whilst the majority of modern song lyrics are pretty shallow, turgid stuff, there are a handful which are really quite beautiful poetry.
Whilst I was at Oxford University, I attended a long lecture/seminar with the university's most important, famous English professor; and the subject? 'I Want You', a song by Bob Dylan (the folk/rock singer)! The professor went to great lengths to show that Dylan was showing just as much control and skill in the art of poetry as his predecessors like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron etc., and I was totally convinced.
This week's poem of the week is by two contemporaries of Dylan - Lennon and McCartney (the two songwriters from The Beatles). Try to forget the fact that this is a song (from the 1971 album 'Let It Be') and enjoy the poetry itself:
Across the Universe
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
That call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing
Through my open views inviting and inciting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
Million suns, it calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
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