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Conrad Aiken poem set to music
riverflow
Veteran
This is a sonnet by Conrad Aiken I set to music (I originally wrote the music back in 1990). The sonnet is from a larger sequence called And In The Human Heart (1940). I've always had a thing for his poetry-- I've set three of his poems to music in the past.
Anyway, I was finally able to get my computer to record sound decently so here it is:
[LINK HERE]
Bend as the bow bends, and let fly the shaft,
the strong cord loose its word as light as flame;
speak without cunning, love, as without craft,
careless of answer, as of shame or blame.
This to be known, that love is love, despite
knowledge or ignorance, truth, untruth, despair;
careless of all things, if that love be bright,
careless of hate and fate, careless of care.
Spring the word as it must, the leaf or flower,
broken or bruised, yet let it, broken, speak
of time transcending this too transient hour,
and space that finds the beating heart too weak.
Thus, and thus only, will our tempest come
by continents of snow to find a home.
~ Conrad Aiken
Anyway, I was finally able to get my computer to record sound decently so here it is:
[LINK HERE]
Bend as the bow bends, and let fly the shaft,
the strong cord loose its word as light as flame;
speak without cunning, love, as without craft,
careless of answer, as of shame or blame.
This to be known, that love is love, despite
knowledge or ignorance, truth, untruth, despair;
careless of all things, if that love be bright,
careless of hate and fate, careless of care.
Spring the word as it must, the leaf or flower,
broken or bruised, yet let it, broken, speak
of time transcending this too transient hour,
and space that finds the beating heart too weak.
Thus, and thus only, will our tempest come
by continents of snow to find a home.
~ Conrad Aiken
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