time has told me

 

 

simple pleasures no. 10 - heaven in a wild flower

Well, not quite wild. It's actually the head of a cultured allium, grown in our back garden. There is, however, a significance in the title to this photo which I will come onto in a moment.

I love alliums. They bring late spring colour, then as the flower-head fades it reveals the beautiful skeletal globe holding the seeds of the next generation. In more ways than one, life comes full circle.

Which brings us back neatly to the very first posting in this series - 'Time Has Told Me' the title of a song by the late Nick Drake.  It featured on an early compilation album, 'Heaven in a Wild Flower', released following his premature death.

As I look back on the photos I've taken and the words I've written I begin to realise my simple pleasures of life lie in those good things which feed my body, my mind and my spirit.  What better way to finish than with some more superb music by Nick Drake.

 

simple pleasures no.1 - time has told me

The summer holiday homework for my photography group is to take ten photos on the theme of 'Simple Pleasures'.

Here's my first, a box-set of CDs compiling the work of the late Nick Drake.The box itself is a replica of Nick's tuck-box at school. It was used to guard the cakes sent to him on a regular basis by his mother, Molly.

My first encounter with Nick's music came through, "Nice Enough to Eat", a brilliant 1960s Island sampler. One of the tracks I played repeatedly was "Time Has Told Me", which I subsequently discovered was the first song on Nick's debut album, "Five Leaves Left."

Nick led a short and tragic life, dying in mysterious circumstances aged just twenty six following yet another bout of depression. He's buried at Tanworth-in-Arden near to his childhood home and his grave is a regular place of pilgrimage for his many fans.

I've visited twice and on both occasions I found a haunting, elegiac beauty in the silence of the graveyard. If you want to see the photographs I took just click here.

If you've never heard the music of Nick Drake I thoroughly recommend it to you. It's one of my simple pleasures in life and I'm listening to this as I type.

From the Morning

A day once dawned, and it was beautiful
A day once dawned from the ground
Then the night she fell
And the air was beautiful
The night she fell all around.

So look see the days
The endless coloured ways
And go play the game that you learnt
From the morning.

And now we rise
And we are everywhere
And now we rise from the ground
And see she flies
And she is everywhere
See she flies all around

So look see the sights
The endless summer nights
And go play the game that you learnt
From the morning

Songwriter: Nick Drake

© BMG Rights Management (Uk) Limited, Warlock Music, Ltd.