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A WOMAN’S LOVE

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LIBRETTO

PART ONE

LOVE IS LIFE

Wild nights! Wild nights! With thee, wild nights our luxury be!

That I did always love, I offer thee: that till I loved I did not love enough.

I gave myself to him, and took himself for pay; the solemn contract of a life was ratified this way.

I live with him, I see his face, I go no more away; I live with him, I hear his voice, I stand alive today.

I'm wife, I'm woman now; he touched me, and now, I'm different from before.

That I shall love alway, I offer thee that love is life, and life hath immortality.

Wild nights! Wild nights! With thee, wild nights our luxury be!

PART TWO

OH GOD…HE WENT AS SOLDIERS

Bless God, he went as soldiers, his musket on his breast; grant, God, he charge the bravest of all the martial blest.

Please God, might I behold him in epauletted white, I should not fear the foe then, I should not fear the fight.

[spoken] Oh God! he went as soldiers, his musket on his breast…

I envy seas whereon he rides, I envy spokes of wheels of chariots that him convey; I envy speechless hills that gaze upon his journey;

I envy light that wakes him, and bells that boldly ring to tell him it is noon abroad; how easy all can see what is forbidden unto me!

[spoken] Oh God! he went as soldiers, his musket on his breast…

[spoken] I felt a funeral in my brain, and mourners, to and fro, kept treading, treading, till it seemed that sense was breaking through. And when they all were seated, a service like a drum kept beating, beating, till I thought my mind was going numb. And then I heard them lift a box, and creak across my soul with those same boots of lead, again, then space began to toll as all the heavens were a bell, and Being but an ear, and I and silence some strange race, wrecked, solitary, here.

PART THREE

LOVE THAT MEETS IN ETERNITY

To know just how he suffered would be dear; to know if any human eyes were near to whom he could intrust his wavering gaze, until it settled firm on Paradise.

To know if he was patient, part content, was dying as he thought, or different; was it a pleasant day to die, and did the sunshine face his way?

What was his furthest mind, of home, or God, or what the distant say at news that he ceased human nature on such a day?

To know just how he suffered would be dear; to know if any human eyes were near to whom he could intrust his wavering gaze, until it settled firm on Paradise.

And wishes, had he any? Just his sigh, accented, had been legible to me. And was he confident until ill fluttered out in everlasting well?

And if he spoke, what name was best, what first, what one broke off with at the drowsiest?

To know just how he suffered would be dear; to know if any human eyes were near to whom he could intrust his wavering gaze, until it settled firm on Paradise.

Was he afraid, or tranquil? Might he know how conscious consciousness could grow, till love that was, and love too blest to be, meet–and the junction be Eternity?

MORE TO KNOW:

This libretto is derived entirely from the poetry of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886). While often the lines of text are taken from complete poems, other times the libretto consists of shorter segments taken from poems in which the surrounding references and allusions would not communicate recognizably with modern audiences or in which the continuing lines of text stray from the meaning of the initial words which do contribute to the idea behind this theatre piece. However much this is a liberty on my part, I nonetheless assert that every word is that of Ms. Dickinson's and in the context in which she wrote it the meaning is as I have used the word in this libretto.

This work was written expressly for and dedicated to my Musical Partner Maria Del Pilar. Together we premiered it at Biola University at the school’s invitation, then performed it again at the church where I serve as Music Director. This audio recording comes from the premiere at Biola University.

While the piece could be presented as a stand alone song cycle, we incorporated dramatic staging with a single small arm chair as the only prop. It is very effective this way.

To experience more of our work together, please visit OPUS 2 on this website.