My Sons Estate
Copyright 2007 by Jeff Suzuki
This was another one that ended up in a totally different place than I'd planned. It began as a song about a knight who comes across a peasant and demanded to be given directions to a battle where he (the knight) expected to win great honor and fame. The peasant gives him the directions, with the warning that win or lose, live or die, no one will know the knight's name a century from now unless his cause is a good one. The tune was going to be dargason, which seems to lend itself well to illuminating (and occasionally antagonistic) conversations. The first verse was:
There was a proud knight of long ago Whose fame the whole world around did know
I might finish it some day, but as I began writing down verses (okay, one verse...half a stanza), it changed to an environmental piece. I don't know how; I got the idea on the train coming in to work on the morning of May 31, 2007 and finished it that day. I used a new trick, based on what I learned while writing The Raven's Questions: I set up a table in Microsoft word, one cell to a syllable with the emphasized syllables shaded. I wrote the song by filling in the cells; that way I made sure (or at least, tried to make sure) that the emphasis was placed on the proper syllables. I think it worked.
One of the revelations that occurred while writing this song: in previous civilizations, people blamed God for their misfortunes, but frequently with a subtext of God is punishing them for their actions. Nowadays, we don't blame God for hurricanes and global warming; they are nature's response to human actions. But replace “nature” with “God” and you have essentially the same reasoning: God/nature is punishing us because of what we have done. The only difference is that with God, the punishment is for our moral sins, while with nature, the punishment is for our environmental sins.
You'll note this song is very short. That was another interesting revelation. I wrote the song rather quickly and came to the end, having said all that I wanted to say. There was an enormous temptation to expand the song, add more stanzas, etc...I resisted. I don't know if that strengthens the piece or weakens it (but in my experience, if you can't be good, be brief...). You'll have to judge its impact for yourself.
You might wonder about the song's subject. Actually, the topics are very Elizabethan: the enclosure movement had been growing for centuries, and many (particularly among the yeoman farmers) had concerns over its implications. Air quality (caused by burning coal) was a major issue, and as far back as Edward I, laws had been passed to limit coal burning inside London city limits. In Tudor times, England underwent an unprecedented wave of deforestation, caused by the demands of the English war machine (both cannon and ships depend, indirectly or directly, on wood), with the concomitant loss of forest land and woodland habitats. Meanwhile, Agricola mentions in his De Re Metallica that several Italian city states limited mining because of its deleterious effect on the environment (though he dismisses the effects on the workers). Finally, Europe was in the midst of the Little Ice Age, so even the topic of climate change is appropriate. The more things change...
When our forefathers came to these lands They worked the soil with their own two hands A fruitful harvest they wrestled forth To feed the masses of south and north My father saw in his younger days Some changes made from the ancient ways A fence was built to surround and keep The common land for the master's sheep The sea coal burning in London fires Sends smoke afar to all distant shires The trees are cut to make ships and steel The hare and pheasants from clearings reel The proud lord off in his manor home Will hear no song from our burning Rome Some say our sins have caused God's assault I say the greed of man is at fault Once gentle mists of rain wet the field But drought and torrents the skies now yield My time draws near and my life's near done But what estate will I leave my son?
