Titanic Violin

[Frank E Gibbard]

Strings which sung

with songs serene

a violin hung around

one sturdy shoulder

that has been where

none would choose to

go or played on and

out in circumstances

colder.

Fretted as all such

instruments are and

like all the wretched

passengers and crews'

kin in mourning did;

this now awaits the

highest bid.

He'd held on with a

hand like a vice as

his ship was scuppered

by the dreadful ice.

Played at the last for

good and other folk

whose last suppers

rested uneasy on a

cold sea bed.

 

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[fdelano]

History and disaster painted on a sea of canvas, capturing moods and images that make me shiver, I saw the violin on TV and it seemed pristine. What an amazing find! "Fretted as such..." carries many possible images of the time. Much enjoyed, Frank.

[Tinker]

Hi Frank I love how you take a current headline and run with it. You bring to life an inanimate object. Make it relevant. Nice.

 

~~Tink

[Benjamin]

I read the story of Wallace Hartley's violin with much interest. The Titanic has been an endless source of fascinating stories and films. Your poem is well in keeping with them although I would point out that the violin family of instruments do not have frets. That aside, I enjoyed the overall tone of the poem. B.

 

Perhaps:

"Without fret as all such

instruments are..

unlike the wretched

passengers and crews'

kin in mourning did

this now awaits the

highest bid."

[Frank E Gibbard]

I read the story of Wallace Hartley's violin with much interest. The Titanic has been an endless source of fascinating stories and films. Your poem is well in keeping with them although I would point out that the violin family of instruments do not have frets. That aside, I enjoyed the overall tone of the poem. B.

 

Perhaps:

"Without fret as all such

instruments are..

unlike the wretched

passengers and crews'

kin in mourning did

this now awaits the

highest bid."

 

Oh whoops, now who's fretting. Many thanks for the tip-off Geoff, shows my ignorance of musical instruments, your version while a bright suggestion lets me off my own petard and love of a pun (even in serious pieces). I'll just lose it as I will in a revision ASAP. Ta ever so

[tonyv]

I don't much keep up with current events, but I take it that a violin that was on the Titanic has been recovered? Way to harness it, Frank! And though "fretted" might be inaccurate when taken literally, perhaps figuratively the instrument is fretted due to its circumstances and the predicament of other "such instruments"?

 

Tony

 

PS -- Benjamin gives his "without fret" idea which is good, or "stringed" or something might work if it must be changed ...