Yantantessera

A line drawing of a black and white cat, perching at the edge of some sheets of paper. The paper bears the following words: Yantantessera, Choir (optional divisi) & piano, Words: TJA Thurman, Music: Kathryn Rose
Lovely cover picture: drawn by Arkady Rose from a photo by TJA Thurman, and then I added in the words. CC by-SA.

I’m very pleased to make available my setting of TJA Thurman’s poem, “Yantantessera”.

One fine dark night with a fine dark sky
And fine-sliced moon so bright,
A Cat leapt forth with a fine black coat
And paws of moonlit white;
If I should ask you to say her name
I’m sure you’d tell me that
She’s Yantantessera,
Tessera, Tessera,
Tessera Tessera, Cat.

She had no humans, she had no home,
She had no meals to eat,
But soon, by means of a friendly purr,
Adopted half a street,
Where twenty humans would serve her food:
They all had time to chat
With Yantantessera,
Tessera, Tessera,
Tessera Tessera, Cat.

The Cats’ Home heard, and they swore to find
The Cat a Home, and thus
She started work as a Rescue Cat
Who came to rescue us.
And since that day, we belong to her;
We’re proud to share a flat
With Yantantessera,
Tessera, Tessera,
Tessera Tessera, Cat!

Here’s a recording:

As usual, it’s available on the Choral Public Domain Library, or you can download a .pdf or .midi here:

PDF of Yantantessera score
MIDI robots singing Yantantessera