In Paradise There Are No Rules Poem by gershon hepner

Paradise for Delius wasn’t Florida,
where he was sent to manage orange groves
It was a pub that he imagined to be horrider
than Florida, whose only treasure troves
were two young lovers who, like Romeo and Ju-
liet, decided to commit, fond fools
together, suicide because, though young, they knew
in paradise love is against the rules.
Delius’s father actively supported music – he helped to organise the Hallé Bradford Subscription Concerts butdid not support a musical career for his talented son. “Fred” tried, but couldn’t hack it in the woollen business. Eventually, he persuaded his father to let him manage an orange plantation in Florida. “Manage” was a euphemism for “look after the music studies and let the oranges look after themselves”. From there he wormed his way towards his goal, becoming one of the most quintessentially English composers ever to be born of German parents. The “Paradise Garden”, far from being some soft-focus horticultural heaven, is in fact a pub - and a rather dilapidated one, at that. In the opera, this enchanting intermezzo covers the scene change to the said hostelry, where the fleeing lovers decide to do away with themselves. The dominant theme, zipping aloft then faltering, reflects their quandary: shall we flee, or put ourselves beyond capture? Alternating languor and ardour, Delius drenches his score in perfumed harmonies and sultry textures, evoking a humidity such as was never endured, not even by Debussy’s Faun.


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