Work in Progress: Song of Easter

This was my contribution to the Online Praise service for Easter Day earlier today. You can view the whole service here. I didn’t have time this week to do a lot with it, so just recorded the melody line; I have plans to expand on this, though I’m not sure yet whether to SATB or to S(A)-organ. There is plenty of more urgent work in the queue now so it will have to wait, but here is a taste, anyway:

When I was young I feared my growing old
lest, being old, I should want youth again,
or lest the growing old should cause me pain;
I knew the worth of silver less than gold.
I tried to hold the sun and not the moon,
I asked the clock to stop– it paid no heed!
Time blew away like dandelion seed,
as sure as day, the evening came too soon.
This road I cannot tread the other way.
The ages passed, and age has come to me.
Yet still asleep I dream, awake I see,
as sure as day brings night, the night brings day,
youth, sun and dandelion seed, and why?
They cannot have new life unless they die.

Song of Easter rough draft — pdf file

The words are by Thomas Thurman and, as always, the work is licensed under CC BY-SA. That means you can use it for free — even for profit — without asking me, as long as you a) credit me (and Thomas Thurman!) and b) release whatever derivative works you make under the same license. I do this because I don’t want anyone to have a monopoly on my music, and I want it to be available to people who don’t have much money.

If you think that’s nifty and want to support me, please tell others about my work. If you have a bit of cash to spare you could also consider becoming a regular patron, buying my recordings on Bandcamp, or just sending me some money. All of these options are “pay what you want” so needn’t break the bank; and all of them make it possible for me to continue composing.