One of the benefits of the recent stormy weather (see Magical Moment Mondays: Thunderstorms) is that there has been more wind. And more wind means more wind chimes. I love the calming sound of wind chimes swaying in the breeze. The random element of the notes in perfect tones caresses me like no other song can. Our Woodstock wind chime is a beauty. We have had it for many years and the design is still available for those of you looking for a particularly soothing mixture of notes. I was pretty certain I remembered the design but went online to play samples and my husband Andy went outside to giggle the chimes. And indeed I did remember correctly. Our Tenor Gregorian Chimes are just the right range for my ear. Not too low and not too high—just right in the sweet spot.
Playing wind chime samples online is a fun way to go if it isn’t very windy out (or if you don’t yet have one). The samples are so convincingly real that as my husband was walking up from the basement, he thought our chimes were playing. But if you are lucky, you have a wind chime, just the right amount of wind and a spot nearby to sit and enjoy the magical sounds of the air current.
The Wind Chimes
By Shirley Buettner
Two wind chimes,
one brass and prone to anger,
one with the throat of an angel,
swing from my porch eave,
sing with the storm.
Last year I lived five months
under that shrill choir,
boxing your house, crowding books
into crates, from some pages
your own voice crying.
Some days the chimes raged.
Some days they hung still.
They fretted when I dug up
the lily I gave you in April,
blooming, strangely, in fall.
Together, they scolded me
when I counted pennies you left
in each can, cup, and drawer,
when I rechecked the closets
for remnants of you.
The last day, the house empty,
resonant with space, the two chimes
had nothing to toll for.
I walked out, took them down,
carried our mute spirits home.
XOXO Rachel
Wondrance 