Abide with Me: 5 songs of love (preview)

Abide with Me five songs of love

Price Walden

Note When Jos Milton asked me to write a piece for his project on art song in the American South, it took me a while to find the right subject. I spent some time trying to write something contributing to the mythology of this place, but I finally realized the piece needed to be about my personal experience of growing up here.

What I settled on is a pathwork love story, mostly of texts that were influential to me growing up. (The final poem is by my friend and colleague, Philip Rice.) The five songs together form a kind of Southern Song of Solomon- a meditation on love in its various forms: divine, physical, sacred and secular.

Abide with Me: five songs of love was commissioned by and is dedicated to Jos Milton.

"If you will have me" from What It Means to Fall: New Poems is used by permission. Š Philip Rice 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Performance notes The five songs should all proceed without pause. The ending of one should feel like the beginning of the next.

Pedaling has been loosely indicated. Don't be afraid to let it get a little "muddy".

If necessary, it is acceptable to roll large chords, rather than leave notes out.

The tempo markings given are loose suggestions. Especially in the fourth and fifth songs, a loose, almost unsettled sense of time is necessary.

Let each phrase breathe how it wants to.

10/28/2015

Abide with Me: five songs of love i. That night (Walt Whitman) When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear into the morning light, When I wandered alone over the beach, and undressing, bathed, laughing with the waters, and saw the sun rise, And when I thought how my friend, my lover was coming, then I was happy.

Each breath tasted sweeter - and all that day my food nourished me more And the beautiful day passed well, And the next came with equal joy - And with the next, at evening came my friend.

And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly up the shores.

In the stillness, his face was inclined toward me while the moon's clear beams shone, And his arm lay lightly over my breast - And that night I was happy. ii. In the Garden (C. Austin Miles) I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, The one I love discloses.

And he walks with me, and he talks with me, And he tells me I am his own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of his voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing; And the melody that he gave to me Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain I'd stay in the garden with him Though the night around me be falling; But he bids me go - thru the voice of woe, His voice to me is calling.

Refrain iii. Be not afraid (Walt Whitman) As Adam early in the morning, Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep, Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach, Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body.

Interlude: night

iv. Abide with Me (Henry Francis Lyte) Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Oh, with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. v. If you will have me (Philip Rice) If you will have me as trees have leaves or as moons have shining, as a woman has a child; as stars have gravity; If you will have me in the sky in the night sky, in the air; in the rhythmic breathing of furnaces on winter nights; If you will have me as roses low to the earth have petals, as hearts despite our shallow bodies have warmth, as they have depth; O my love, in having you I have found much more than lifting up reflections, luminous warm darkness when I would stay at your side.

If you will have me as a fire has flickering, as your eyes have shapes have colors have light: Here is more having than flowers whose growing is higher than souls' hoping, and whose thinking would have me to stay here.

i. That night Walt Whitman

Price Walden

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Interlude: night

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iv. Abide with Me Henry Frances Lyte

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v. If you will have me Philip Rice

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