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Rewrites can be problematic.
They call for a certain delicacy of touch, and need to be rooted in respect for the original. You can't impose; you need to work with, matching style for style and diction for diction.
When done well, though, they can potentially both renew and transform the original.
Possibly forever.
I Saw Three Ships
I saw three ships come sailing in
on New Year's Day, on New Year's Day
I saw three ships come sailing in
on New Year's Day in the morning.
As we learn—or relearn—our native paganisms, the lessons sure do come from some strange places.
After surgery, a friend needed a cane. He told me what he wanted and I went down to the store to get it for him.
It soon became clear to me that his dream cane didn't exist. Eventually I bought the one that was closest to what he wanted, on the principle that, when you need a cane, it's better to have an imperfect cane than not to have the perfect one.
Planning this year's Samhain, we needed a song to call the ancestors.
In a traditional society, of course, we would call the ancestors with the song that they themselves had handed down to us. We'd all know this song, and it would have the quality and the worthiness that centuries of honing can give.
Alas, that song—along with so much else—is now lost to us.
Instead, we have a new song which, frankly, isn't as good as I would like it to be: the dilemma of much modern paganism.
