towards the lonely tree (2024)

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Text

i. august night

She had forgotten how the August night
Was level as a lake beneath the moon,
In which she swam a little, losing sight
Of shore; and how the boy, who was at noon
Simple enough, not different from the rest,
Wore now a pleasant mystery as he went,
Which seemed to her an honest enough test Whether she loved him, and she was content.
So loud, so loud the million crickets’ choir. . .
So sweet the night, so long-drawn-out and late. . .
And if the man were not her spirit’s mate,
Why was her body sluggish with desire?
Stark on the open field the moonlight fell,
But the oak tree’s shadow was deep and black and secret as a well.

ii. country road

As I sat down by Saddle Stream
To bathe my dusty feet there,
A boy was standing on the bridge
Any girl would meet there.

As I went over Woody Knob
And dipped into the Hollow,
A youth was coming up the hill
Any maid would follow.

Then in I turned at my own gate, –
And nothing to be sad for –
To such a man as any wife
Would pass a pretty lad for.

iii. autumn chant

Now the autumn
In the rose’s root.
Far and wide the
Lean among the fruit.

Now the autumn clambers
Up the trellised frame,
And the rose remembers
The dust from which it came.

Brighter than the blossom
On the rose’s bough
Sits the wizened orange,
Bitter berry now;

Beauty never slumbers;
All is in her name;
But the rose remembers
The dust from which it came

iv. thus in the winter

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Ida St. Vincent Millay’s poetry is in the public domain and is reproduced here without the requirement of permissions.

General Information

Movements:
I. august night
II. country road
III. autumn chant
IV. thus in the winter

Text: Selected poetry by Ida St
Commissioner: Written for Tyler Roberts
Written: September, 2023 – January, 2024
Duration: ca. 8.5’
Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano + pf

Performance History

March 3, 2024: Lena Goldstein and Addy Geenen with Taylor Chan (piano) on the Hot Air Music Festival, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA (World Premiere)

Program Note

This idea for this song cycle was born when mezzo-soprano Tyler Roberts, for whom the piece is written, shared with me Millay's poem 'What lips my lips have kissed' - the text of the fourth song in this cycle. I drew three other poems from Millay's volume The Harp Weaver and Other Poems. With the four songs, I tried to create a sense of the narrative arc of a relationship from its genesis to eventual death.