I lie in late dark, slip on my earphones.
KLRE overwhelms me with waves
of Ireland: tenor Robert White intones
rapture of three folk songs. Somehow it saves
me. Then I’m ravished, I swear, by Stanford’s
sixth Irish Rhapsody -- violin lifting
me in air with such delicate power --
swelling each cell with grace, Ulster gifting
every space with melodic passion’s hour
of reckoning and forgiveness. “The Last
Rose of Summer”, then Anuna’s concord
of voices in “One Last Song”, fervor vast
and deep as Wicklow’s valleys -- laughter, pain,
longing, prayer -- I may never sleep again…
Roger Armbrust
August 31, 2016
