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Jocelyn Hagen
JH Music (Jocelyn Hagen)
How Do We Know the Light Will Come Back?
This gorgeous setting of an incredible text by Marisha Chamberlain emphasizes the importance of community and strength in difficult times.
SSAA choir, piano
Women’s choirs will love singing this piece, not only because of the incredible text, but because of the wonderfully crafted and accessible melody.
Text
How do we know the light will come back?
Streak of the sun like a ball on a string,
Flung far, to the farthest limit of gone?
And was it just an idea we had
Sitting in the dark, in the cold –
The light, something our eyes thought up
Because we wanted to cross a room
Without groping?
No, no, no.
Our eyes did not invent the light.
It came the other way around –
The light invented our eyes.
Yes, the light
invented our eyes,
pulled eyes out of the clay of us
To make sense of itself
to make sense of us
to reveal to us what we have.
How do we know the warmth will come back?
Dread winter like a blanket of ice
Spread far, to the farthest limit of sight?
And was it just an idea we had,
Sitting in the dark, in the cold,
The warmth, something our skins thought up
Because we wanted to cross a room
without dressing?
No, no, no.
Our skins did not invent the warmth.
It came the other way around –
The warmth invented our skins.
Yes, the warmth invented our skins,
spread radiance onto the clay of us
To make sense of us,
make us friends to each other,
to reveal to us what we have.
– Marisha Chamberlain
$1.75 per licensed PDF
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