One Word, Five Voices: Sing

Those of you who know me well know that I randomly sing words and phrases throughout my day. I'm pretty sure it's physically impossible for me to utter the word "creepy" without it coming out as a sing-songy "creeepeee." Go ahead and spook me with a story if you'd like to test that one out.

I grew up with song so it's naturally a part of my every day, and probably 99.9% of the reason my life feels like a musical. My mom is a fabulously talented singer, and though I don't remember my childhood being filled with randomly sung words like "creeepeee," I do remember her "Good morning" song, Christmas caroling through our neighborhood, trying out for high school musicals, and listening to her sing in church every Sunday morning. Song was so incorporated in my young life that I wrote this poem about it in college:


Childhood Epiphany in High G

I sat in a hard-backed pew

at St. Mark’s Catholic Church

every Sunday morning and listened

to my mother sing. 
Hymns, praise songs, and alleluias carried
her perfect soprano 

above the low-pitched muddle,

and with eyes closed I could pluck

her notes from the air and take them home

as the one godly thing I reaped that week. 

In fact, I think song heavily contributed to my love of poetry. I mean, songs are nothing more than poems set to music, right? Granted, some aren't as crafted as others, but you can't set your expectations too high for a typical pop song, I guess.

Even still, there's something about song that transcends poetry. It's the act of singing that brings the poem in a song to life. It's a joyful noise with which we can share the emotion behind a song and experience what the writer experienced.

Singing brings our lives to life.

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This post is part of a series focused on a single word, which started with a 2013 Lenten challenge from Rethink Church. A group of five friends (including me) posted once a day and love-hated it so much we couldn't stop. We now post once a month on the same word. Check out what my friends think of the word "sing" on their blogs: Shawn, Heather, Steph and Brian.