Friday, May 11, 2012

the spark within needs out


Arts Eve

within everyone
a creative spark wants to find a way out,
so that what one can do
reflects light back on who one is
and light out to others,
so that our companions on the journey
are heartened by what can reveal itself,

at our best we know that we grow larger
when the other is true to self and to the spark within,

the greatest competition we face is the one within ourselves
to let the best of who we are out,
and, at the same time,
to celebrate the best of everyone around us,

we lose the game if we think we only win when the other loses,

tonight is Arts Eve at Carolina Friends Middle School,
a celebration of individual and group:

the musicians, whose years of work on technique, on skills,
allow virtuosity of spirit and instrument to reveal itself,
 

the dancers, who labor to understand self
and to understand how body in space and time can express
what that self needs to release,
 

the drummers, who create sound and storyto tell us what they want to say, emphatically,
 
the actors, who each create character,and who together use those characters to create story,
and delight the audience,
 
the singers, who with the musicians, crescendo into songs,and all of us in the audience come together in appreciation,


































 an appreciation that has built and built
as spark after spark has come alight before us,
and I hope within us,

finally we flow out and into where displays of artwork draw the eye
to appreciate the line, the structure, the way the spark has released itself,
 

 
the way into one’s talents becomes the way out to an audience,
many are the sparks tonight that find a way out to flare bright.

by Henry H. Walker
May 10, ’12

2 comments:

Mountain Class said...

Another time you tug at my mother-heart-strings, Henry -- Lisa

Renee said...

Beautiful, Henry. A testament to our children and our remarkable staff's work with them.