xv. Signs and Wonders - Flutes

Flutes

early 14c., from Old French flaute (12c.), from Old Provencal flaut, of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative or from Latin flare ‘to blow’, perhaps influenced by Provencal laut ‘lute’.

Busking

Rundle Mall

There is a man

pitched perfectly

between Myers

and James Place

playing a flute - Danny Boy

each note a plaintive

autumn leaf

of fragility and colour

a soft waterfall

of exquisite tears

moving

the movement of the street

towards a resolution

of only what is beautiful.

Jeff Guess

Reflection:

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

There is a wonderful seventh chapter in Kenneth Graham’s ‘Wind in the Willows’ where Otter’s little son Portly goes missing. Setting off in their row boat, Rat and Mole go in search for him. They arrive just as dawn is breaking at an exquisite island in the river and there experience something of an epiphany. For there at the feet of the great god Pan whose ‘pipes had just fallen away from parted lips’ ‘the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter.’ Both Rat and Mole experience both overwhelming fear and love in the presence of ‘the Friend and Helper’. ‘Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.’

Reading: Psalm 150

Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.