Decade

"Decade" is the third song from the song cycle The Seven Ages by composer John Harbison with text derived from poetry by Louise Glück. The song cycle is for mezzo soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello and vibraphone.

Date: 2007Composer: John HarbisonText: Louise GlückSong Collection: The Seven Ages

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Text

What joy touches
The solace of ritual? A void

appears in the life
A shock so deep, so terrible
It’s force
levels the perceived world You were

a beast at the edge of its cave, only
waking and sleeping Then
The minute shift; the eye

taken by something
Spring: the unforeseen
flooding the abyss

And the life
filling again. And finally
a place
Found for everything.

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