The Wind Among the
Reeds
for male voice and piano
*Winner, One Ounce Opera 2016 call for scores*
*Winner, 2012 call for scores by tenor Gregory Wiest*
Poetry
by William Butler Yeats:
Aedh
Laments The Loss Of Love
Pale brows, still hands and dim hair,
I had a beautiful friend
And dreamed that the old despair
Would end in love in the end:
She looked in my heart one day
And saw your image was there;
She has gone weeping away.
Aedh
Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes
Fasten
your hair with a golden pin,
And
bind up
every wandering tress;
I
bade my
heart build these poor rhymes:
It
worked
at them, day out, day in,
Building
a
sorrowful loveliness
Out
of the
battles of old times.
You
need
but lift a pearl-pale hand,
And
bind up
your long hair and sigh;
And
all
men’s hearts must burn and beat;
And
candle-like foam on the dim sand,
And
stars
climbing the dew-dropping sky,
Live
but to
light your passing feet.
Aedh
Hears The Cry Of The
Sedge
I
Wander by the edge
Of this desolate lake
Where wind cries in the sedge
Until the axle break
That keeps the stars in their round
And hands hurl in the deep
The banners of East and West
And the girdle of light is unbound,
Your breast will not lie by the breast
Of your beloved in sleep.
Aedh
Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven