Musical Poetry: a poetry podcast where poems become music

In this second contribution to our Musical Poetry series linking poetry with King Charles III’s concept of Harmony, we turn to William Wordsworth’s “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.” This episode explores nature, memory, exhaustion of the soul, and the hope of restoration. Wordsworth’s phrase “the still, sad music of humanity” becomes the emotional centre of the discussion and inspir...

In this episode of Musical Poetry, we begin a new series on harmony, inspired in part by the documentary Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, which explores King Charles III’s lifelong concern for nature, sustainability, and the idea that humanity is part of nature, not apart from it. That idea led us to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “Each and All.” At its heart are the unforgettable lines:“All are need...

A modern adaptation of The Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood, reimagined as a solemn South African–inspired Afro-soul lament. First published in 1843, Hood’s poem exposed the hidden cost of labour: exhaustion, poverty, and lives quietly worn away behind everyday goods. More than a century later, its message still resonates. While workers today benefit from rights fought for over generations, those...

A quiet kind of love. In this episode of Musical Poetry, Michael Appelt brings Lord Byron’s timeless poem “She Walks in Beauty” into a new space, a reflective, 90s-inspired ballad shaped by restraint, warmth, and emotional honesty. Written in 1814, when Byron was just 26, the poem captures a fleeting moment:a woman seen in candlelight, where light and darkness exist in perfect balance. This musica...

A light returns. In this episode of Musical Poetry, we bring Spring Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar into a new space—set to a warm jazz big band arrangement that lets the poem breathe, swing, and gently unfold. Written in the early years of Dunbar’s career in the 1890s, Spring Song captures something simple and timeless:the quiet shift from cold to warmth, from stillness to movement, from waiting to...

We talk about love. This short Musical Poetry episode explores what remains when everything else falls away. A modern poem, an indie rock track,and a truth that refuses to leave: love anyway.

In this episode we present a deeply reflective piece written just moments before Michael's 60th birthday. Born under the impression of unfolding events in the United States, and with little improvement since, this text is less a poem and more an emotional short essay shaped into music. “End of the Road (But Not Quite)” explores aging, fragile systems, shifting societies, and the quiet ways thi...

A haiku. Three lines. One moment. In this episode of Musical Poetry , the same poem is spoken across multiple languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Persian. The journey moves toward the Middle East, ending in a quiet Persian stanza where only one word remains: Sahar - dawn. This multilingual poem reflects on current tensions in the region, but ultimatel...

In this episode of Musical Poetry , Michael Appelt reflects on one of the most powerful travel experiences of his life: one unforgettable week in Egypt. From the Pyramids of Giza and the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), to the monumental temples of Abu Simbel near Aswan, relocated in a remarkable UNESCO-led rescue between 1964 and 1968 to protect them from the rising waters of the Aswan H...

When power grows impatient with restraint, poetry remembers. This episode of Musical Poetry brings together three voices from three centuries in a single musical conversation: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley — written in the shadow of Napoleon’s fall, reflecting on power after history has passed judgment. The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats — written after the First World War, sensing a world wher...

These are the days between Christmas and New Year, when celebration has faded, time slows, and the future has not yet begun. In this episode of Musical Poetry, we present “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy. Written at the very end of 1900 and first published in 1901, the poem stands at the threshold between centuries. Hardy looks at a winter landscape that feels exhausted and silent, and then h...

The bells of war are sounding louder again — and yet, have they ever really stopped? In this episode of Musical Poetry, we present Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, one of the most powerful anti-war poems ever written. Owen wrote this poem during the First World War, after witnessing combat at close range. Before the war, he was a teacher and a poet. He was killed in action on 4 November 1918,...

Immerse yourself in the quiet beauty of Christmas with this special episode of Musical Poetry. Today’s reading features Christina Rossetti’s beloved poem “A Christmas Carol” — better known by its opening line, “In the bleak midwinter.”Through tender words and timeless imagery, Rossetti captures the holiness of a winter night, the humility of the manger, and the simple, profound truth that the grea...

In this festive edition of Musical Poetry, Michael invites the ever-charming Opa Cohen to open and close the episode with his warm, storytelling voice. Together, they bring to life one of the most beloved Christmas poems of all time: “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. Set against gentle jazz tones and supported by cinematic winter imagery, this episode captures the magic, mischie...

Today’s poem is “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold — a timeless piece from 1867 that speaks with quiet power about a world losing its sense of unity. Arnold, a poet and cultural critic of the Victorian era, captured the feeling of a society drifting apart long before our modern age gave it new forms. His imagery of the calm moonlit sea, slowly revealing deeper currents of uncertainty and longing, sti...

In this episode of Musical Poetry , we explore one of Shakespeare’s most intimate and contemplative works: Sonnet 73 . Through images of fading autumn leaves, dying daylight, and a fire resting on its own ashes, the sonnet reflects on time, aging, and the deepening strength of love in the face of impermanence. Join me as we journey through these powerful metaphors — from bare winter branches to th...

In this episode of Musical Poetry , we travel back to 14th-century England and step into the world of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales — one of the greatest journeys ever written in the English language. The episode begins with a brief reflection on the Prologued , a living tapestry of medieval society, where knights, friars, merchants, and storytellers share the same road toward Canterbury. Th...

This poem is a call for unity in a world divided by pride, labels, and self-interest. It reminds us that all our problems — from war to hunger to environmental collapse — share one root: our separation from one another. Through vivid imagery and honest reflection, “People of the World, Unite” invites us to remember who we are meant to be — caretakers, not conquerors; peacemakers, not profiteers. L...

In this episode of Musical Poetry , Michael Appelt turns to a timeless classic — “To Autumn” by John Keats . Written in 1819, this masterpiece captures the season’s golden abundance and quiet surrender, celebrating life’s ripeness just before it fades into rest. Let the words and music carry you through fields heavy with fruit, the hum of bees growing slower, and skies alive with the last song of...

A leaf speaks — from its birth in spring to its fiery farewell in autumn. Carried by the wind, it journeys far beyond the tree that once held it, discovering beauty in release and freedom in letting go. “I was the highest leaf” — a piece of musical poetry by Michael Appelt , where nature becomes a voice for the soul’s quiet courage to move on. If the poem moves you, share it, comment, and subscrib...

“I Will Not Give You My Children” is a dramatic poem set to music — a litany of words naming greed, tyranny, deception, and despair, broken again and again by a single unyielding refrain: “I will not give you my children.” It is both lament and defiance, resistance and promise. A cry that innocence will not be surrendered. If the words move you, please share, comment, and subscribe, so you won’t m...

In this episode of Musical Poetry , I share The Poem of Despair . It is not a poem of answers, but of wounds — emptiness, hunger, illness, guilt, and mistrust — spoken in words pared down to their essence. It names the weight many of us carry, yet ends with the simple, stubborn act of rising again, and the haunting question: Who will lift me? If this poem speaks to you, I invite you to share your...

How do we measure a wave when we are caught inside it? How do we measure a movement in our world — by its noise, its rules, or by what it leaves behind? This reflection weaves the storm on the Sea of Galilee, when the men in the boat saw Christ walking toward them, with questions about strength, freedom, and what endures after the storm. If this poem speaks to you, please share it, leave a comment...

In this episode, I share The Coin and the Kingdom — a chant-like poem inspired by Christ’s miracle of the coin in the fish. It weaves universal longings for peace and justice with wisdom from many traditions, and ends with my own choice to anchor my life in Christ.

In this episode I share a new piece titled Beyond Complaint . Born from the noise of a fractured public space — where politicians, public figures, and social media have made true dialogue almost impossible — this poem turns instead to spirituality and song as a path of healing. Beyond Complaint weaves images of rivers, seeds, and dawn with Christ calming the storm. It reflects on the difference be...