A Song about Finding Peace

“It was worth coming all this way just to experience this song!”

(Participant from Seychelles attending International Symposium for Culture, Arts & Health , UK, 1999)

This song embodies the experience of peace as Jill witnessed an elderly monk’s calm, purposeful behaviour in the midst of what she perceived as chaos. It is dedicated to Jo Spence who was the first person in the ‘outside world’ to hear it, in the last days of her terminal illness. Its first public performance – and indeed Jill’s first public performance as a singer – was at Jo’s funeral. This solo version has generated a profound response in very many people, in diverse situations, and it is dedicated also to anyone struggling to cope with pain of any kind, with illness, with death and dying, with fear and uncertainty, with violence, with oppression, with war – and to anyone simply seeking or wishing to promote peace.

A recording of this song is available to buy on two CDs, our Peace CD and Songs for Universal Peace and Healing

* * *

A SONG ABOUT FINDING PEACE

Oooh – – – –
Oooh – – – –

Old man walking,
pacing steps of peace

Old man talking,
speaking words of peace

Old man listening,
hearing sounds of peace

Old man watching,
seeing signs of peace

Old man greeting,
meeting souls in peace

Old man singing,
tuning his heart to peace

Old man dancing,
moving through moments of peace

Old man living,
breathing breaths of peace

Old man being,
living his dying in peace

Shalom, Shalom Shalom
Shalom, Shalom Shalom

Salaam, Salaam, Salaam
Salaam, Salaam, Salaam

“Tonight I spent time with the ‘old man’. I felt a terrific sense of sadness and then deep peace” (Hannah)

"It helped my dearest friend die in peace”
[referring to Jill's studio recording]

“At first [the song] seemed so simple and as the verses flowed on, subtle layers of meaning overlaid each other like lacy wings, and I found the cumulative effect magical and evocative. Each verse reminded me of experiences from my own life”.

(Nuala, a trained singer)