It was an evening when a thousand fireflies lit the air. The moonlight was streaming across the fields. Hearts were dancing, spinning into space. You were approaching escape velocity, I was right behind you. Soon to sink earthward, resting on the pillow of your breast. Yesterday the sun was burning, like a beacon through a storm. We’ve been given such a short time here. Let’s fan the flames of desire until the statues weep. My love is carving a channel across your land. May it be deep and nourish you, -- a haven for beautiful birds who trace silent arcs in the sky, fish of many colors floating among the reeds. On these banks the rocks are ancient, opaque, rounded by wind and time. We will climb up and over toward the glowing horizon, which retreats with our every step, unattainable and unknowable. Then one day a boat will carry us laughing to the sea, the Sea of Tranquility. Floating there we glimpse other channels dug by faceless forces long ago on the Red Planet, a lantern hanging from heaven.
Rainbow Songs
Song Cycle by Mark Abel (b. 1948)
1. It was an evening  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Mark Abel (b. 1948), "It was an evening", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.
2. Breezes blow and eagles fly  [sung text checked 1 time]
Breezes blow and eagles fly through the fork in the river. Still this place survives the onslaught of time and men who will never learn to leave well enough alone. You showed me this sacred space when spring gave way to summer. Far off the back roads we shared a paradise of love. Our soaring hopes built on lives untested, many paths were beckoning, with fingers of sand. But our tools were primitive, like cavemen trying to strike a flint. We didn’t know what we were doing. Grappling with our shadow demons -- ones that we never knew we had -- then becoming something we feared. We were too strong for each other, destined to drift apart. So began our walkabouts through the maze of a lifetime. Fond farewells and vows to stay in the circle. Like so many things, corruptible and impermanent. Now here you are again. True was your arrow that pierced my heart so long ago. Lodged between the bones of memory, it never decayed. You are fine; you always were – and so simply human. Let’s stay awhile and watch God’s majestic light, where breezes blow and eagles fly.
Authorship:
- by Mark Abel (b. 1948), "Breezes blow and eagles fly", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.
3. La Sonnambula  [sung text checked 1 time]
I walk through these dead streets forever. The wind blows in gusts that pierce my defenses. Helpless, without control, luminous, transparent. My past is brought to life, not the way I’d like it shown. And now the trumpet sounds and faces turn as the judgment is being announced. But when the curtain falls, You’re there to fold me in your arms. This much I hope you know: It will take a long, long time to make me whole. There were terrible years, tales I cannot tell just yet. Please wait for me to reveal all that I must be free of. Bare pastures, dark gardens of pain. Our love is a blessed thing, spreading through leafy branches. The trees of our forest arch and bend but do not break. I can believe for the first time there is grace and peace in store for me. At the end of the pathway there is a door, the door we will walk through together into the most beautiful weather, some day. This is my prayer.
Authorship:
- by Mark Abel (b. 1948), "La Sonnambula", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.
4. The guest  [sung text checked 1 time]
It rises like the tide, imperceptible at first. And then, before I know which shape it assumes, it’s standing next to me – my spirit’s double. Not fearful, but a friend who comes around in times of trouble. She may work her magic again. Her face looks a lot like mine, but ageless. What torments me she hardly acknowledges. Some of us are in need of an empath, but she provides a different example to set me straight. So serene, she spans the distance between thought and word. An elegant creature, quite sure where her path lies. Lighter than gravity, she floats high above the madding crowd. Moving in lockstep, they have nothing to show us two. We merge like the river currents winding through the teeming delta of consciousness, harnessing our energy, then borne toward the ocean’s foam. When my soul is healed anew I remember the purest times I’ve ever had. As my tears softly fall, she turns to me, as if to say, “You will endure.”
Authorship:
- by Mark Abel (b. 1948), "The guest", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.