As steals the morn upon the night

Rational thinking doesnt get much good press in this posttruth era (posttruth was the Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2016). Politicians, media commentators, pop songs all go for the gut response; few have a kind word for reason or the intellect. But amongst all the fear and grief Covid19 has given rise to, there are signs (at least in some countries) of a revival of respect for truth, reason, logical thinking and the scientific method a sudden realisation that rationality may have practical, even life and death, value. Here is a song in praise of those two currently unfashionable and oftneglected things, reason and truth. If you expect this to be dry and intellectual, you will be surprised on the contrary, its quietly rapturous, and one of the most beautiful songs its composer ever wrote. (There is a story behind this; I will share it later. ) The lyrics were adapted from lines from Shakespeare s The Tempest And as the morning steals upon the night, , Melti