Lady of the Island

Listen while you read:  Crosby, Stills, & Nash

Holding you close undisturbed before a fire
The pressure in my chest when you breathe in my ear
We both knew this would happen when you first appeared
My lady of the island

The brownness of your body in the fire glow
Except the places where the sun refused to go
Our bodies were a perfect fit in afterglow we lay
My lady of the island

Letting myself wander through the world inside your eyes
You know I'd like to stay here until every tear runs dry

Wrapped around each other in the peeping sun
Beams of sunshine light the stage, the red light's on
I never want to finish what I've just begun with you
My lady of the island

~ Graham Nash (for C, S, & N)

I am, indeed, a lady of the island . . . "The Island of Women," as a matter of fact. I am spending Christmas week with my family here on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico. This classic song found a place in my head, so here it is. Graham Nash wrote this as a love song to Joni Mitchell. It was part of the highly acclaimed debut album, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, which was released in 1969. I can still remember that album and the impact this "new band" had on us. Of course, we already knew The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies . . . but C, S, & N blew us away. They still do.

And this island is blowing me away, too! In Pre-columbian times, the island was sacred to the Maya goddess of childbirth and medicine, Ixchel. When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, they found many statues and images of goddesses, so they named it Isla Mujeres . . . "Island of Women." Only five miles long and a half a mile wide, the island is easily navigated by golf carts and scooters. Our days here are few, so we are exploring all that we can, and happily so.

I cannot hear "Lady of the Island" without recalling how I used to use it in my writing classes to teach assonance. Everybody knows alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words. (Think tongue-twisters as an extreme form of alliteration.) Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds inside words. Look at the first two lines of the song and take note of "holding" and "close," "pressure" and "chest," and "breathe" and "ear." Hear it? I can't help but wonder if Graham Nash knew that he was writing a poetry lesson for English teachers when he wrote the song? Nah, I think he was just thinking of Joni.

Isla Mujeres. You know I'd like to stay here . . .