The Hushed House

 

SATB, a cappella (divisi)

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Commissioned by the Young New Yorkers' Chorus; Michael Kerschner, Conductor

 

"I, who went at nightfall, came again at dawn; 

On Love's door again I knocked. Love was gone. 

One who oft had bade me in, now would bid no more; 

Silence sat within the house; barred its door. 

When the slow door opened wide through it I could see 

How the emptiness within stared at me. 

Through the dreary chambers, long I sought and sighed, 

But no answering footstep came; naught replied. 

Then at last I entered, dim, a darkened room: 

There a taper glimmered gray in the gloom. 

And I saw one lying crowned with helichrys; 

Never saw I face as fair as was theirs. 

Like a wintry lily was their brow in hue; 

And their cheeks were each a rose, wintry too. 

Then my soul remembered all that made us part, 

And what I had laughed at once broke my heart."

                                     -Text by Madison Julius Cawein (1865 - 1914)