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Dale Trumbore
Dale Trumbore
Love Song for the Lesser Parts
A playful exploration of long-lasting love.
SATB Chorus & Piano
I wrote the first draft of the poem that would become Love Song for the Lesser Parts in 2008, before I’d been in a lasting relationship. The poem uses playful, florid language to speculate how long-term partners might admire each other after so many years together. In this musical setting, each compliment is delivered with embellished counterpoint or a rhythmic flourish. Now that I’ve been in a relationship for over a decade, I know the sentiment of the poem—if not the flowery language!—does ring true.
Composer’s Notes
Love Song for the Lesser Parts was commissioned by Kirkland Choral Society (Glenn Gregg, Artistic Director).
-Dale Trumbore
Text
We must’ve known it was nothing
to have dried our hands, our lips
on words so ragged, words worn through
and through: Oh, the curve of your hip.
The base of your spine. Your neck, the nape—
like we’d never seen a body before. No,
true-time lovers say: I seek again
the scar between your third and fourth left toes,
which I have found on several occasions.
I’ll draw a map whose long-sought gold
is each freckle you’re scared might be someday
melanoma, your twin moles like binary stars.
I’ll write a symphony dedicated to the dent
below your right knee—it’ll feature
the violas. I’ll take you out for Thai food
at your favorite place, the expensive one,
and I will do the dishes for one week,
if you can find one unloved inch
on the anywhere of you.
—Dale Trumbore
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