Blessing

Blessing

Sorrow will come
May there also be kindness and grace
Easy silence in the place beyond words
and words to warm the silences
A channel that guards the passage
of your small and battered boat
then opens again, wide

Marg Walker
(used with the permission of the author)

duration: c. 2:45

Written for the Source Song Festival 2019, Blessing was premiered by mezzo Clara Osowski and pianist Mark Bilyeu as part of a panel discussion entitled “How Text Gets Paired with Song.” Libby Larsen, who organized the project, also wrote a setting of the poem, with fascinatingly different results.