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Episode 00 Mother of My Mothers

4m · Dickens and Quips - Poetry Pod · 02 Sep 19:08

This is a placeholder while I sort out doing some actual content! This is a sea shanty I wrote for my dissertation about my fear of drowning because of the inherited trauma of being descended from enslaved people.

Co vocals and beautiful harmonies by Anna Fruen to whom I shall always be grateful.

Credit is also due to Florence Welch for the inspiration from Sky Full of Song.

Find me on twitter at @thepontypoet

Poem transcript

Mother of My Mothers - A Shanty

After Florence Welch

Ohmother of my mothers

Ifeelyou in thestorm

Ireach foryou and

Know that for

TonightI’m not alone.

The father of my fathers

Is lost beneath the waves

While the man with gun

And bible wants to tell me

Jesus saves.

And I was sitting at my window

Gazing out across the sea

And in mygriefI swear that

You were looking back at me

Whispering the music

Of a land so far away

Calling me back to a place

I always want to stay.

Mother of my mothers

No matter where I roam

I will always look upon the sea

And wish that I was home.

Lying on the ocean floor

With seaweed in my hair

Singing with the sirens

songs of love and songs of care.

Hand in hand

I’m so frightened now.

I’m scared to die.

Pull me down

Where we alldrown

Leave me where I lie.

And I can tell that you are with me

As the storm begins to break

When the wind is wrapping round me

And my heart begins to ache

It feels like something’s gone

That I never got tograsp

was lost down on theseabed

In one last choking gasp.

And silence is a virtue

Or so I have been told

Sowe’ll be oh so quiet

In the deep and in the cold

And when the ships are gone

On rocks they’ve run aground

We’ll drift up to the surface

Where our songs of love abound

Mother of my mothers

No matter where I roam

I will always look upon the sea

And wish that I was home.

Lying on the ocean floor

With seaweed in my hair

Singing with the sirens

songs of love and songs of care.

take my hand

I’m so frightened now.

I’m scared to die.

Pull me down

Where we alldrown

Leave me where I lie.

I thought I was flying

But maybe I’m dying now

I thought I was swimming

Butmy light is dimming now

I thought I wassinking

But I am clear thinking now

Mother of my mothers

No matter where I roam

I will always look upon the sea

And wish that I was home.

Lying on the ocean floor

With seaweed in my hair

Singing with the sirens

songs of love and songs of care.

Hold my hand

I’mnotfrightened now.

Not afraidto die.

Pull me down

Where we alldrown

Leave me where I lie.

The episode Episode 00 Mother of My Mothers from the podcast Dickens and Quips - Poetry Pod has a duration of 4:03. It was first published 02 Sep 19:08. The cover art and the content belong to their respective owners.

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