Haibun: Heavenly Music

lr-1090544-ww

At one of the shelters where I volunteered the radio was always tuned into a classical music station and the soothing melodies that drifted past the kennels had a calming effect on the wise old souls who would look deep into your eyes from behind the bars. At home too, many of our adoptees would soon let out a deep sigh and stretch into a relaxed roach while the soft notes from a flute or piano filled the room.

At Carpe Diem Haiku Kristjaan has introduced us to a number of female composers I had never heard of before. When I played a recording from one of his posts on my phone Pearl went into a deep relaxation and Eivor listened very attentively before asking me to play that piece again.

heavenly music
part of us remembers
the angel’s harp

© Xenia Tran

lr-1090561ps-ww

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Lumix Panasonic FZ38, setting: Indoor Portrait.

Carpe Diem #1093 Concertino pour harpe et piano by Germaine Tailleferre

Daily Prompt: Bespoke

dVerse Open Link Night #186

The closing haiku from this haibun features in Between Heather and Grass. If you haven’t read the book yet, feel free to take a peek inside:

look inside feature for Between Heather and Grass
Look inside …

Author: whippetwisdom

The stories, poems and photographs on this blog are the original creative work of Xenia Tran. Inspired by life in the Scottish Highlands and in awe of nature she gives voice to the wisdom of her adopted and fostered whippets.

80 thoughts on “Haibun: Heavenly Music”

  9. Those eyes…those faces…
    I always wonder “what are they thinking?” When my little ones gaze into my eyes. What stories could they tell; some we may not wish to hear or just tell us how much love they now feel?
    As always, lovely post 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your kind words Joanna :o) Mostly what you see in their eyes is pure love and wisdom and I have written a few stories about that in earlier posts before I got the poetry bug :o) Thank you for stopping by and please give your lovely dogs a cuddle from us too xxx

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. I really do think animals listen and respond to music! One time I tried it with my cats because they were acting rather rambunctious and they stopped when the music started and one of them closed his eyes, I think he was falling asleep, the other just walked away. I wonder what animals think about when they hear music. It would be fascinating to know.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you Serena!☺ The dogs we adopted so far all seem to like piano, flute and harp and traditional instruments from around the world. Our cats had their individual tastes – two loved new age music, one loved Irish music, one loved female vocalists and our former street cat loved heavy metal 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you Kristjaan, Eivor in particular was very taken with it and I will see if I can buy a CD of her music for him ☺ Both whippets also really enjoyed Anna Bon’s music and I will look for that too. Thank you so much again for introducing them to us, it is absolutely beautiful! ☺🎶🎵

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  19. Thank you- I have not listened to that piece before. I’ll trade you. For me a piece that calms me no matter what is going on and helps me to rest is by Satie, Gymnopedie 1,2,3

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Victoria :o) Sparky will be able to feel the vibration of musical notes in his cells as they travel through the air and still get some benefit from soothing music being played :o) xxx

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Please do. George Skaroulis has composed music to calm dogs called ‘The Divinity of Dogs’, which our two absolutely love (in addition to classical music) ☺🎶🎵

        Like

  27. Wonderful image and haiku Xenia.
    All our Afghans have loved gentle classical music especially baroque. One exception was Kelly our first , she would put her head in front of a speaker if any Rock and Roll was on. She was exceptional, only understood Italian when we brought her home, how we discovered that is a story.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your kind words Denis ☺ Baroque music really suits the spirit of a sighthound and ours love it too. How funny that Kelly liked Rock and Roll and only understood Italian when you brought her home – please tell us more about that when you have time!

      Like

      Reply

  28. Well Xenia, her original owners were Italians living in a largely Italian community in a suburb here in Melbourne. My wife Jill worked with Eddie, (an Italian who lived next door to Kelly). Her family moved to Sydney asking Eddie to feed and water Kelly for a short time before they came back for her. Then they asked for her to be euthanised. He told Jill and we decided to take her home to Jills parents. We wondered why Kelly was so heedless until one day our Italian greengrocer spoke in Italian in front of Kelly and she became very excited. We then gave her a crash course in English. Then we had to buy a house so Kelly and 2 cats we had vouched for all had a home.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you for sharing this amazing story Denis! It is wonderful that Kelly landed on her paws with you and Jill and got all of you a new home – it sounds as if it was all meant to be ☺

      Like

      Reply

  29. As an addition Xenia. When we saved her we discovered she had been badly healed in the back left leg after a clash with a truck. Many fractures and the leg was not set in the socket. We took her to a university research clinic and they reset the leg in the socket and but in a stainless steel plate in groundbreaking surgery. She always had a bad limp but we walked in sand on the beach every morning. This one was an escapologist and there are many other hair-raising stories about some of her adventures. Our first Afghan of 5 so far and she stole our hearts for the breed.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. She was sooo lucky to have found you and Jill at the right time in her life Denis and she sounds like a very special hound :o) Thank you for sharing your stories and for all your support Denis. We wish you and Jill a wonderful festive season and a very happy, healthy and creative 2017 :o)

      Like

      Reply

  30. Thanks Xenia. We share the same passion for amazing hounds. We wish you , your family and especially the Whippets a wonderful Christmas and another amazing year of walks, poetry and images in 2017.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.