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Joan Szymko
Joan Szymko Music
Sail Away (TTBB)
A tender, lyrical, metaphorical pilgrimage to “no country and to no end.”
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Sail Away
TTBB, piano
A gentle, buoyant piano ostinato sets the tone for this setting of a poem from Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize winning Gitangali collection. A bass section solo leads the way on a tender, lyrical, metaphorical pilgrimage to “no country and to no end.” Commissioned by Peterborough Male Voice Choir for a 2024 Festival of T/B choirs in the UK.
Text
Early in the day it was whispered that
we should sail in a boat,
only thou and I, and never a soul in the world
would know of this our pilgrimage
to no country and to no end.
In that shoreless ocean, at thy silently listening smile my songs would swell in melodies,
free as waves, free from all bondage of words.
Is the time not come yet?
Are there works still to do?
Lo, the evening has come down upon the shore
and in the fading light the seabirds
come flying to their nests.
Who knows when the chains will be off,
and the boat, like the last glimmer of sunset,
vanish into the night?
-Rabindranath Tagore
No. 42 Gitangali (Song Offerings)
$2.50 per licensed PDF
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