Nancy Kerr 2019
For Rosa Luxemburg; inspired by the rosemary tree in Kerr’s back garden. One of her kids fell in it and smelled like a lamb dinner for weeks afterward. Luxemburg was a significant Marxist political theorist of the early 20th century. She was born Jewish in Poland but worked mostly in Germany, where she was prominent in international socialist coordination. Wikipedia: “An anti-imperialist, anti-militarist, and foremost thinker of democracy within the Marxist tradition, she is best known for her writing and her revolutionary leadership in 1918-1919” during which she was executed.
Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/a-strange-time-to-bloom
https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/a-strange-time-to-bloom
Sweet rosemary flowers, what a ?strange ?time ?for ?bloomingÿ I thought her like a rosebud seen only in June?ÿ In coarse January with springtime a memoryÿ What a ?strange ?time ?for levity, what a? strange time ?to ?bloom?ÿ Chorus: For we’ve been? too long crying lamenting and sighingÿ For loves that have wandered and might be home soonÿ Though winter it glowers and the rich steal our powersÿ Sweet rosemary flowers, what a? strange ?time ?to ?bloom.ÿ Perhaps she laments for the loss of a true loveÿ And wishes? to? woo if they ever return?ÿ Perhaps she remembers our comrades who hunger For a garden of flowers, for the freedom of a bird?ÿ Perhaps in the darkness, the moonlight, the quietÿ The wounded our riotous roots may exhume?ÿ To ?grant when awoken? to? longings unspoken?ÿ To ?hearts that are broken, their? strange ?time ?to ?bloom?ÿ Sweet rosemary flowers, what a ?strange ?time? for? blooming?ÿ I thought her like a rosebud seen only in Juneÿ But springtime or autumn, grant all hearts a gardenÿ And all Rosa’s children their? strange? time ?to ?bloom.