Before flying off to Mexico I decided to write a few quatrains. It’s a topic that sticks to me, especially in light of the coming holiday.
Happy Thanks
G
The Great House
I live in The Great House
A house undivided
A manor of many rooms
Where all are invited
Yet many snub the kindness
Forsaking their sacred lot
Presumimg a temple built
Of myth and wishful thought
I wander chamber to chamber
Beneath the shelter of one roof
However distant the wing
I am comforted by proof
Nothing lies afar The Great House
All is within the vast sprawl
And whatever is, that is yonder,
Is, at length, nothing at all
And the Lord of the Manor
Though mystery of mysteries
His house rules made plain
By the Keeper of the keys
A princedom become flesh
Declaring men immortal and free
To reap from the Great Garden
The fruits of our own industry
To fill the Great Halls
With laughter and song
To delight in our senses
Forge tender bonds
To accept the offer
As welcome guest
Whether noble, common
Rich or penniless
To know we are vouchsafed
Whatso our hearts chase
Our rewards apportioned
By the measure of faith
To hold that one atom wanting
In this whirling planet blue
And not a creature would be
Not a droplet of dew
That, after all, I am witness
To the stars above
That I regard The Great House
As the greatest outpouring of love
15 Comments on “Before flying off to Mexico I decided to write a few quatrains.”
Beautiful and so true. God Bless you and yours GINO. I am trying really hard to make sure I will be entering that Great House on the day Jesus returns.
Praying you put this to music.
deb
I met you in New Orleans on your birthday tour.
You were so gracious in speaking to me and signing
autographs. I love your music and especially Wheels
of Life. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
Best Wishes!
I, too, love Jesus; and I have enjoyed “watching” you mature through the years (of course, from a distance). As the “waters of Shiloah go gently,” your youth has been refreshed!
I met you briefly after a concert in the 70’s in Nashville. I was very close to the front with a group of “head-over heels” fans! You had a “do-over beginning” this particular night and a sore throat–but you managed to totally “pull it off” and elicit ecstatic feelings from every person who was there!
I greatly appreciate your talent; and I am grateful to the Lord for the unique layering and juxtaposition of sound that He has given you!
I wish you all the best! Happy holidays!
I find strangely, echoes of Abraham Lincoln;and,especially, Walt Whitman in these jubilant lines. There is even the light tread of Emily Dickinson.I think this has been put to music already, largely, in “Walter Whitman, Where Are You?” A really great song all around. It takes guts to share poetry. Thanks for your courage.
Your Friend,
Ann Carter
Great words surround the beautiful insight, chanelled through an extraordinary artist!
Saw your show in Austin,loved you and the band. I would encourage you to check out the Tobin Center, here in San Antonio, as a concert venue on your next tour through Texas.
very nice wording of our Lord and savior. we always have seen you in the Niagara falls area for many years. thank you for signing the poster of you and your brother when we saw you in mississauga. and its beautiful the $ went to the Nazarene fund.
amen brother!
May God bless you and yours. You have brought great pleasure to us all with your beautiful voice and words. It was my pleasure to meet you in Boston. I hope you will return.
Buon Natale
This is just a note to let you know that I have followed you since early on. 1st I’m mad about the fact that I have never been able to see you live in person. I am currently in Houston area I know that you did a concert their on 11-11-15 at Dosey Does., which I missed. Unable to attend I regret due to my schedule. Anyway I’ve got a quick question for you I’m sure that others would like to know as well. Please explain “WHY” Crazy Life., Big Dreamers Never Sleep.,Inconsolable Man., LIVE 95′ release., Slow Love & Yonder Tree are No longer available on CD format?. If I missed any other ones nothing else comes to mind. I am not including the A&M Greatest Hits Vol. 7. Thank You for answering in your personable way. Mark
And out of the winter of despair comes the inversion- dark to light
Traveling through the tunnel of hope that shows springs rebirth-eternal. Music that has been a soundtrack of my life and now accompanies the diving board of my death.
I saw you at the Houston show in Nov. Great performance ,warm and friendly place. saw Gino 5 times over the years. He’s always worth it.
Beautiful, from the heart, knew right away the Great House you refer. Please sing it, aloud, for all to know they are invited. Met you at Austin TX, I live in Phoenix. God bless you for sharing these words, wish all could know Him and know the power of that love.
I am a person of faith. I enjoyed your poem very much, in addition to,your other writings over the years. “The Great House” is an ideal way to refer to our eternal home in Heaven,a place of everlasting joy and peace. This world is definitely our temporary home. I share your love of reading also, and often I am reading several books at a time(history,biographies,and the classics of literature), Fitzgerald and Hawthorne among my favorites.Fitzgerald had a tragic life, I often wonder what other great novels he would have written. His writing has such an elegance to it. I was an English major in college. I enjoyed your show so much in PA. I wish I could attend one of your shows in Florida before years-end, but, next weekend I have plans with my Mom and family. You have touched my life through your music and words beginning in 1974, when I heard your music for the first time, to my first concert with you in the Fall of 1979, and continuing to now.I love your voice. I think it is wonderful what you have done, and the sacrifices you have made, to support persecuted Christians.God bless you and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Beautiful words penned of the joy that awaits us in our Father’s house! My daughter and I came to your show at the Civic Theatre In New Orleans in October of 2014 (for my birthday present!). Another generation was wowed with the tight progressive jazz licks and velvety voice of Gino! God bless and keep you and yours, Gino, and PLEASE come back to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or somewhere in Louisiana. Love in Jesus, Liz 🙂
To the point, this is a request you set up an account for your fan clan to funnel group funding so you can work on your music projects unencumbered by financial constraints or control entities. (Let’s rebel and make more happen.) Ostensibly, it can be a birthday account. We can keep our Italian prince on our yearly gift list just like we donate to museums, etc. Every year, see what more you have to work with. We have to get the word out because I know all of us would want to contribute. Please set up that account (idea initiated by a devotee, of course). I’m all for it, G. I’d like to add some utility to my gratefulness for what you do. After all, you’ve always spoiled us. I have other constructive ideas to send you soon to consider that could be effective with collective effort such as how you can get more spins. I’m making a list of radio station request lines in my area that play your style.
I also want to add that the way you perform Keep on Walking, this pure rendition [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb-WOEblvvo], is spiritual, classic, signature, and you do it with a natural vocal accent that is otherworldly—your execution, such uncluttered beauty. I fell in love with that sound in your voice. It’s incomparable. You locked me. I couldn’t get enough of you if I ever wanted to. For you to have written lyrics with such poignancy and emotional sensitivity when you were just a sprout absorbing your first rays of wisdom is as profound as Beethoven composing Für Elise near deafness. What measure of a man must you be today? A whiff of your inner bouquet quickly eclipses your physicality. We all can only love you! I could write a book about it but will settle for trying poetry. I deeply regret letting you escape my radar and not being proactive in seeking your concert schedule just because I wasn’t hearing airplay. I’m keeping up now and plan to see you many more times and getting a photo with you next time, maybe. Close your eyes for a moment and feel the flood of love permeating waves of energy making way to you. Luv you G, doubtlessly. Michelle from Detroit.