What are your favourite laments?

Post date: 2019-05-23 01:41:00

I am looking for laments, in any format. Musical laments, of course, like those in the Celtic music tradition are the obvious answer. But I'd like them in any and every genre - poetry, quotation, art. Short, long, anything that breaks your heart. A good lament is stirring and gives you hope while also delineating the long-term futility of anything but acceptance. Have you got anything for me?

Musical examples of what I mean include the Chieftans' and Sting's Mo Ghile Mear but perhaps also the version by Choral Scholars, University of Dublin. Flowers of the Forest? Song of the Shield Wall? Lament for Limerick? Do you know any that aren't in the Celtic traditions? What version makes you throb? You can't go wrong with drums. Can you make my heart explode with bagpipes? Any piece that starts with a chamade and grows and grows - that's what I want.

Do you know of any photographs of grief that are a visual lament? Paintings?

Quotations like, "Lament is a cry of belief in a good God," would fit my request if there is one that is meaningful to you. Are there any books you adore that convey lamentation as their central theme?

I'd love to hear suggestions that I might have missed or that are way out of my experience.

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