Each week a poem is chosen to be recorded by as many Librivox volunteers as possible!
This week we read To My Grandmother, by Frederick Locker-Lampson. The poem can be found online here: http://www.bartleby.com/246/825.html
Thanks to Mermaid Maddie for suggesting this poem for Grandparents' Day!
At the beginning, read the abbreviated "librivox disclaimer":To My Grandmother
by Frederick Locker-Lampson
THIS relative of mine,
Was she seventy-and-nine
When she died?
By the canvas may be seen
How she look’d at seventeen,
As a bride.
Beneath a summer tree,
Her maiden reverie
Has a charm;
Her ringlets are in taste;
What an arm!… what a waist
For an arm!
With her bridal-wreath, bouquet,
Lace farthingale, and gay
Falbala,
Were Romney’s limning true,
What a lucky dog were you,
Grandpapa!
Her lips are sweet as love;
They are parting! Do they move?
Are they dumb?
Her eyes are blue, and beam
Beseechingly, and seem
To say, “Come!”
What funny fancy slips
From atween these cherry lips!
Whisper me,
Sweet sorceress in paint,
What canon says I may n’t
Marry thee?
That good-for-nothing Time
Has a confidence sublime!
When I first
Saw this lady, in my youth,
Her winters had, forsooth,
Done their worst.
Her locks, as white as snow,
Once sham’d the swarthy crow:
By-and-by
That fowl’s avenging sprite
Set his cruel foot for spite
Near her eye.
Her rounded form was lean,
And her silk was bombazine:
Well I wot
With her needles would she sit,
And for hours would she knit,—
Would she not?
Ah, perishable clay!
Her charms had dropp’d away
One by one;
But if she heav’d a sigh
With a burden, it was, “Thy
Will be done.”
In travail, as in tears,
With the fardel of her years
Overpast,
In mercy she was borne
Where the weary and worn
Are at rest.
Oh, if you now are there,
And sweet as once you were,
Grandmamma,
This nether world agrees
’T will all the better please
Grandpapa.
"To My Grandmother, by Frederick Locker-Lampson, read for librivox.org by [your name], to celebrate Grandparents' Day, 2006" or some variation on that, adding date, location, your personal url, if you wish.
At the End say: End of poem. (Optionally add: This recording is in the public domain) and leave a few seconds of silence.
Save your recording as an mp3 file using the following filename and ID3 tag format:
File name all in lowercase: to_my_grandmother_locker-lampson_[your initials].mp3
ID-3 tags:
Title: To My Grandmother - Read by [your initials]
Artist: Frederick Locker-Lampson
Album: LibriVox Weekly Poetry
Please be sure that your recording software is set to the following technical specifications:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44100 kHzs
Please check the Recording Notes thread before recording:
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430
If this is your first recording, you'll also find this useful:
http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/NewbieGuideToRecording
You may either post a link to your completed files here in the thread or email them to me via http://www.yousendit.com/ at this address: ac DOT timshel AT gmail DOT com. If you use yousendit, please post the link it generates in this thread as well.
When you post your link, please include your name as you would like it credited on the catalog page and any URL by which you would like it accompanied. (Note: This is necessary only if your information is not yet in the wiki: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/ListOfReadersCatalogNames)
If you wish to contribute, please have your readings submitted by 5:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, September 16th.
Enjoy!
(And remember, anyone who submits a recording can choose and/or coordinate an upcoming weekly poem! If you'd like to suggest a poem or coordinate a future Weekly Poetry project, please visit this thread: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1114)