Author: crstnlrsmusic

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Instrumentation: SATB chorus + alto soloist + piano
Duration: 4’29”
Poet: Zitkála-Šá

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Text:

Like tiny drops of crystal rain,
       In every life the moments fall,
To wear away with silent beat,
       The shell of selfishness o’er all.

And every act, not one too small,
       That leaps from out the heart’s pure glow,
Like ray of gold sends forth a light,
       While moments into seasons flow.

Athwart the dome, Eternity,
       To Iris grown resplendent, fly
Bright gleams from every noble deed,
       Till colors with each other vie.

’Tis glimpses of this grand rainbow,
       Where moments with good deeds unite,
That gladden many weary hearts,
       Inspiring them to seek more Light.

-Zitkála-Šá

This poem is in the public domain.

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Instrumentation: SAB chorus + piano
Duration: 3’00”
Poet: Clarissa Scott Delany

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Text:

Joy shakes me like the wind that lifts a sail,
Like the roistering wind
That laughs through stalwart pines.
It floods me like the sun
On rain-drenched trees
That flash with silver and green.

I abandon myself to joy—
I laugh—I sing.
Too long have I walked a desolate way,
Too long stumbled down a maze
Bewildered.

-Clarissa Scott Delany

This poem is in the public domain.

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Instrumentation: SSA chorus + acoustic guitar & piano
Duration: 3’56”
Poet: Emily Pauline Johnson

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Text:

And only where the forest fires have sped, 
  Scorching relentlessly the cool north lands,
A sweet wild flower lifts its purple head, 
And, like some gentle spirit sorrow-fed,
  It hides the scars with almost human hands.

And only to the heart that knows of grief,
  Of desolating fire, of human pain,
There comes some purifying sweet belief, 
Some fellow-feeling beautiful, if brief.
  And life revives, and blossoms once again.

-Emily Pauline Johnson

This poem is in the public domain.

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Instrumentation: TB or SA chorus + guitar (or piano)
Duration: 2’48”
Post: Alexander Posey

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Text:

In the dreamy silence
Of the afternoon, a
Cloth of gold is woven
Over wood and prairie;
And the jaybird, newly
Fallen from the heaven,
Scatters cordial greetings,
And the air is filled with
Scarlet leaves, that, dropping,
Rise again, as ever,
With a useless sigh for
Rest—and it is Autumn.

-Alexander Posey

This poem is in the public domain.