Reaching Back from Here

Poet/Lyricist: 

Nancy Wood

Poignant and lyrical, commissioned in remembrance to honor a beloved founding director. Szymko’s setting of the poem by Nancy Wood conveys the healing that accompanies releasing the past, with all its pain and beauty.

Level: 

Moderate
Item Voicing/Instrumentation Duration Price Audio View Score Quantity
JS-106D
PDF purchase only (12 copy minimum) 		SATB, piano 5:00 $2.00 https://joanszymko.com/sites/joanszymko.com/files/audio_samples/Reaching%20Back%20from%20Here.mp3

Text

Reaching Back from Here

Nancy Wood

Reaching back from here
All that I remember of my life
Are the great round rocks and not
The unimportant stones.
I know that I experienced pain and yet
The scars have healed so that
I am like the tree covering itself
With new growth every year.
I know that I walked in sadness and yet
All that I remember now
Is the soothing autumn light.
I know that there was much to
make my life unhappy
If I had stopped to notice how
The world sings a broken song.
But I preferred to dwell within
A universe of fields and streams
Which echoed the wholeness of my song.

© 1974 Nancy C. Wood, from "Many Winters", courtesy of the Nancy Wood Literary Trust

itemtext: 

PDF purchase only (12 copy minimum)

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