Choral Choir (SATB) - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.787259
Composed by Greg Bartholomew. Concert,Contemporary,Folk,Standards. Octavo. 10 pages. Burke & Bagley #49725. Published by Burke & Bagley (A0.787259).
An Open World, When I Land and And the Wind are three settings of poems from Fletcher LaVallee Bartholomew's collection entitled And the Wind: Gnostic Poems 1945 - 1979. When I Land is duration ca. 5 minutes.
Minneapolis native Fletcher Bartholomew spent most of his life in aviation, beginning with a childhood flight in a Curtis Robin in 1929. His work in aviation started with a job as an inspector in an aircraft factory. He went on to become a test pilot in World War II, serving at the South India Air Depot at Bangalore, India. He often spoke later of his experience on the ship to India and the people he met travelling around the subcontinent. He subsequently worked in aviation in Munich, Germany, and in Lima, Peru, before he concluded his career working in airport planning and management.
Follow along in the score as you listen to a performance in this video: https://youtu.be/8ZmbFg3jI6s
TEXT:
I fly da Vinci's dream on wings of speed,
With effortless delight I cleave the air,
Free in the boundless realm of sky, I feed
My soul with wonder, questions seeming fair.
Why brought forth to wander on this earth?
Why given this brief breath of life,
To wonder at our enigmatic birth,
To reach for stars, want reason for the strife.
Yet, being here, why try to find a plan?
Why waste time in thought before we go?
Is not life enough for any man?
How many have, as theirs, my answer, No.
When I set foot again upon the land,
And darkness gains upon the setting of the sun,
I long to feel the welcome of your hand In mine, to rest, let Time its silly cycles run,
Life's nights are all too few.
No other hand, no other's look, no other one,
Can bring that peace to mind or heart or soul,
No peace.
Although I know there's always fun In life,
to reach that sublime goal, I must return to you.
