“Speech, Song – and Lilt”
Photograph by Dr. John Diamond
Imagine a plane taxiing to take off
– that’s speech, prose.
And then lifted up into the air
– that’s song, music.
Now go back to the moment when it’s just about to lift, between earth and air.
This I call lilting. And it is the special speech of mothers to babies, of lovers to one another. Rhythmic, flowing, pulsatile. That’s poetry.
Prose – poetry – sung.
Song is poetry lifted from lilt.
