It was in 1997 that I first heard Jeff Buckley singing (skip the ad) this version of Leonard Cohen's haunting and oddly transcendent song. I've never heard a version that moved me more. When I was a little girl we went to church every Sunday, and on Easter we sang a song that repeated the word hallelujah sixteen times.
"All the intelligence and talent in the world can't make a singer. The voice is a wild thing. It can't be bred in captivity."
-- from The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather, 20th-century American author.
From my porch, I can hear the birds begin singing when it is still dark on these April mornings.
Here is where I first learned about counting the Omer.
("Baby Bird is a computer trackpad drawing by am from 2005, during the first year that I had a computer, my iBookG4).
