In high exuberance of mirth
Is dancing yet.
~Beatrice Hatch
For Music Monday, we have an a cappella version of "Acrostic Song" from David Del Tredici's Final Alice (the acrostic itself, which is by Lewis Carroll, is below the video). I'm sorry to say that I don't know what group is singing here.
The first letter of each line of Carroll’s “A boat beneath a sunny sky” spells out "Alice Pleasance Liddell," the "Alice" for whom he wrote Alice in Wonderland:
A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July—
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear—
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream—
Lingering in the golden gleam—
Life, what is it but a dream?
Beautiful music, but the poem is just lovely, Tabatha. It's quite haunting, isn't it? As if she died. He must have loved her very much. Don't you love the allusion to wonderland? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLingering in the golden gleam—
ReplyDeleteLife, what is it but a dream?
Lovely, but disturbing, too. Memory caught in amber, but wilfully so...