My band Ephemeral's song "Fire and Rose" (see below), to which I wrote the lyrics, is very much inspired by George MacDonald, but let me begin chronologically:

I first discovered George MacDonald during my studies - having stumbled upon him the usual way, via C.S. Lewis. Both his theology and his fantastic works of fiction made a huge impression on me. I wrote my final thesis on the motif of the journey in MacDonald's fantastic works.

Fast forward some years, I am now working at the chair of English linguistics in Würzburg, Germany, mostly teaching Old and Middle English. It is also here that I joined the local dark folk band Ephemeral (the long story behind this is actually connected to Middle English...). “Fire and Rose” is one of the songs on our debut album Into Being (2023).

The first inspiration behind the lyrics was the enigmatic ending of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets:

"And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one."

The beginning of this passage quotes from the 14-century English mystic Julian of Norwich's Shewings, and the final line is very reminiscent of the transformative fire of roses in chapter 8 of MacDonald's The Princess and Curdie. In the song, the lyrics leading up to the central passage were composed from a mental place of perceived scarcity and longing for the unattainable, and the language (where one vivid image is followed by the next in a dreamlike fashion) might evoke MacDonald's Phantastes. The whispered otherworldly promise that "all shall be well" naturally blended into the final scene in Phantastes, in which Anodos seems to hear the lady of the beech tree whispering "a great good is coming, is coming, is coming to thee...".

This recording also features one of my favorite vocalists, Simon Bibby from Derbyshire, England - which means that I got one of my favorite singers to sing on my song and I got him to quote from one of my favorite authors while doing so! Life is not a dream, but it certainly sometimes feels like it could become one ...

Patrick Maiwald
November 2023
in Würzburg, Germany

Song credits:

Lyrics: Patrick Maiwald; quotes from Julian of Norwich's Shewings, Part 1, Chapter 27 [late 14th century], George MacDonald's Phantastes, Chapter 25 [1858], and T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, "Little Gidding", Part 5 [1942]

Music: Nikolaus Jira, Patrick Maiwald, Ella Zlotos

Musicians:

Simon Bibby (Thy Listless Heart) - vocals

Nikolaus Jira - guitars, backing vocals

Ella Zlotos - harp, recorders, backing vocals

Patrick Maiwald - vocals, frame drum, percussion, backing vocals

from Into Being by Ephemeral, released November 24, 2023 through These Hands Melt

produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Nikolaus Jira at NikolausRecordings, Würzburg, Germany

www.ephemeral-band.de

Lyrics:

Fire and Rose (feat. Thy Listless Heart)

I plead to know
Unseen below
The sheets of snow
If seedlings grow
That we once sowed
When dreams were bold
We'd weave our hopes
To free our souls
Release control
Like streams that flow
In deepest cold
We peel from bones
The fleeting moments
Speak in poetry
That holds the key
Consoles our griefs of old
We weep unspoken tears
Evoke the scenes
Where no one feels alone
As leaves are blown from trees
Through golden fields
To slowly decompose
And feed the loam beneath
The roaming feet
Of those who seek a home
Too deep to know
Too deep to know

Concealed in troves unseen below
A secret stowed too deep to know
Concealed in troves unseen below
(All shall be well, all shall be well)
A secret stowed too deep to know
(All shall be well …)

All shall be well
And all manner of thing shall be well
(All shall be well)
When the flames are made into a crown
And all manner of thing shall be well
(All shall be well)
When the fire and the rose are one
When the fire and the rose are one

A great good is coming
Coming to thee
A great good is coming
All shall be well

A great good is coming
Coming to thee
A great good is coming
All shall be well

(Feed the loam beneath
The roaming feet of those
Who seek a home
Feed the loam beneath
The roaming feet of those
Who seek a home)

(… Al shal be wel and al shal be wel
And al manner thyng shal be wel …)
(… A great good is coming, is coming, is coming to thee …)

A great good is coming
(… coming to thee)
A great good is coming
All shall be well