The Clustered Vine; Songs of Love, Loss & Remembrance

Song Cycle by Kareem Roustom (b. 1971)

1. The Gift of Wine
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
First there was Demeter, goddess of the Earth;
She gave us grains to feed us and sustain us.
Then came Dionysus, who gave us wine.

He gave the pleasures of wine to rich
And poor alike, to release us all from pain;
He gave laughter to the flute,
And the losing of cares
In cool forgetting.

When we have no wine, nothing is left,
No love, no joy;
With wine comes sleep, and in our sleep
We forget the fret and fever of the day.
For we live only briefly.
Briefly…

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2. Cup After Cup
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Your love has filled for me cup after cup
 [ ... ]

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3. Life and Death
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Life and death: at their core they are one
 [ ... ]

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4. The Death of the Beloved
 (Sung text)

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Of death he only knew what we all know
 [ ... ]

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5. Taking Leave of a Friend
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The spring wind comes from the east and quickly passes,
Leaving faint ripples in our bowls of wine.
Rise and dance
In the westering sun,
while the urge of youthful years is yet unchecked!

Our wine is now gone. So, farewell!
Here we part, my friend, one last time. Once, forever.
You go ten thousand miles, drifting away
Like an unrooted water-grass.

One brief journey between heaven and earth,
Then, alas! we are the same old dust 
of ten thousand ages.

Oh, the floating clouds 
and the thoughts of a wanderer!
Oh, the sunset and the longing for an old friend!
We ride away from each other, waving our hands,
While our horses neigh softly, softly…

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 441