Margaret and Shirley

Margaret Gallagher and Shirley Hoffman Warren became friends while caring for Liz Shinouda in her final days.

Long a friend of Marguerite, Shirley found a kinship with Margaret in their passions for Music and Poetry. 

Recently Shirley performed two songs from In a New Season, that was inspired by the poetry of Margaret Gallagher.

The program from that night said it all:

 The composer of In a New Season writes:

I was motivated to write In a New Season when the poet Margaret Gallagher sent me her book by the same name.  I had written and played music for the memorial service of her sister, Elizabeth Shinouda, and the book was a "thank you".  I was immediately captivated by the concise imagery of the poetry.  Reminiscent of the verses of Emily Dickinson, but less abstruse, Margaret's poems range from whimsical to profound, from delight at the dance of fireflies to acceptance of one's chosen life path.  The book is arranged in four sections, each dedicated to a particular season.  I have chosen to set three poems from this smorgasbord - Out of Sight, a jazzy reflection on the differing color perceptions of insects; Smoke and Dreams, a wandering musing on the burning of autumn leaves, characterized by ambiguous tonality; and Fledgling, a waltz-like setting of the hopes and expectations of a young bird - or anyone who fervently wishes for "time to sing my song".

Enjoy the poetry of Margaret Gallagher and the music of Shirley Hoffman:

Out of Sight

It isn't what you think it is
It's something else you see
Illusions of the human eye
   Are patterns to a bee.

The colors that excite our gaze
   Are out of sight to some
Yet black and white intensify
   The dramas soon to come

Certain creatures may see motion
   With a focus so defined
That limits are more useful
Than a Technicolor mind.

     I marvel at illusions
That most certainly seem real
   Yet speculate on visions
Other eyesight might reveal.

click to hear the music of Shirley Hoffman

Autumn

In burning leaves
Autumn weaves
Smoke and dreams

A gift of memory flares hight
Then passes
In a Shift of Wind

Fledgling

Will time be short?
Will time be long?
I ask for time
To sing my song.

I ask for time
To try my wings
To sail the winds
Where the nightingale sings.

I love the sun
And the cool spring rain
The April light,
The young green grain.

While the nights are short
And summer days are long
I ask for time
To sing my song.

click to hear the music of Shirley Hoffman

Margaret also inspired Monika Kretschmar with her poetry.  Here is one of her beautiful illustrations that celebrates Margaret's poem Moonrise.