We Gather Together

Here's a Thanksgiving song I arranged for harp.  Happy Day!

The vintage pictures in the video are as follows:

1 - From cover of Ladies Home Journal, 1891
2 - Harvesters in Alberta, Canada, 1890
3 - Hopi, 1898
4 - Sami girl in Lapland, c.1930
5 - Hopi, c.1900
6 - schoolchildren in Frankfurt, Germany, 1930
7 - school party in Grand Coulee, WA, 1935
8 - dinner menu, Ft. Mifflin, Philadelphia, 1918
9 - WACs director at Thanksgiving in Frankfurt, 1946
10 - dinner table in Neffsville, PA, 1942
11 - children cooking in Norway, 1957
12 - Thanksgiving postcard, c.1900

The Halloween March

I wrote this little piece for harp--it's called The Halloween March.   You get 52 seconds of vintage photos and harpistic Halloweening in the video.  Enjoy!

Veneta Donaldson: "Summer's Child"

Veneta Donaldson with niece, June 1958
Since today is the Summer Solstice, it's a good day for this poem. The photo shows Veneta with me, taken around the time of Summer Solstice in 1958. I happen to have been born in the summer, but she wrote this poem many years before my time.


Summer's Child
by Veneta Donaldson

Sweet Summer's child I saw today,
Whose piquant features were designed
By playful breeze and ocean spray
Upon a shore with seashells lined.

Sweet Summer's child I saw today,
A child so gravely young and fair;
I watched her joyfully at play
With sunbeams glistening in her hair.

Oh child of breeze and ocean mist
The world is lovelier for you;
A creature whom the sun has kissed,
Yet left as fresh as morning dew.


The next poem in this series can be found here: Haven.

This is part of a series of poems by Veneta Donaldson. A brief bio and the beginning of the series can be found here: Veneta Donaldson: A Poet in the Family.

Veneta Donaldson: "I Saw Her Standing There"

Veneta Donaldson with niece, 1957
Veneta had no children. She was 20 years old when my mother was born, so she was like a second mother to her. The photo above shows my aunt holding me as a baby. She and her husband were very strongly present in my life, and after my mother passed away, Veneta was a second mother to me, too.


I Saw Her Standing There
by Veneta Donaldson

I saw her standing there,
A quiet child with eyes of brown
And countenance so dear. I knew
Her from a long-remembered prayer.

I saw her standing there,
This child born of my reverie
Then suddenly she was no more –
A vision sweet beyond compare.


The next poem in this series can be found here: I Often Wonder.

This is part of a series of poems by Veneta Donaldson. A brief bio and the beginning of the series can be found here: Veneta Donaldson: A Poet in the Family.

Veneta Donaldson: "To N.J.D. and P.C. McC."

Veneta Donaldson, 1909
I found this poem in my aunt's little box of special things. It appears to be a prayer written to be given to my mother, N.J.D., when she was pregnant and someone else--probably a friend who was also with child.

To N.J.D. and P.C. McC.
by Veneta Donaldson

Give unto him a joyous heart,
And lift him high above the crowd;
Yet may he know that he's a part
Of all of life, from dust to shroud.

Give unto him a fervent will
To rise above a heart's despair;
But if he fails, there is still
Compassionate beauty to share.

Give unto him the need to dream,
Fulfilled by word, or sound or form;
And when the hours are not what they seem,
Release him from contingent harm.

Give unto him a spirit deep
Enveloping the human race,
Instill in him the wish to keep
The true formalities of grace.

Mold him by Thy divinity,
This child that is yet to be.


The next poem in this series can be found here: I Saw Her Standing There.

This is part of a series of poems by Veneta Donaldson. A brief bio and the beginning of the series can be found here: Veneta Donaldson: A Poet in the Family.