Sarojini Nadu’s poetry
Text for Laudamus’ 20th Anniversary Commission by Thomas LaVoy from Sarojini Nadu’s The Golden Threshold and Bird of Time Collections
Song of a Dream
Once in the dream of a night I stood
Lone in the light of a magical wood,
Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang;
And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang,
And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed
And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowed
In that magical wood in the land of sleep.
Lone in the light of that magical grove,
I felt the stars of the spirits of Love
Gather and gleam round my delicate youth,
And I heard the song of the spirits of Truth;
To quench my longing I bent me low
By the streams of the spirits of Peace that flow
In that magical wood in the land of sleep.
In the Forest
Here, O my heart, let us burn the dear dreams that are dead,
Here in this wood let us fashion a funeral pyre
Of fallen white petals and leaves that are mellow and red,
Here let us burn them in noon’s flaming torches of fire.
We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long have we borne
The heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest,
Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn;
We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west.
But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again
Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng;
Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain,
We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song.
Transience
Nay, do not grieve tho’ life be full of sadness,
Dawn will not veil her splendor for your grief,
Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty
To lotus blossom and Ashoka leaf.
Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble,
time will not pause or tarry on his way;
To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter,
Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.
Ira Porterfield’s poetry, inspired by Laudamus’ singing
The first two lines are a link to the rest of the poem.
Ira Porterfield Laudamus from 4-20-15
The magnificent organ is silent this day
When the Steinway hosts forty glorious singers …
Ira Porterfield My First Rehearsal from 8-24-15
The joy of the giving voice
Lullaby with living strings …
Ira Porterfield The Performance from 11-23-15
I’ve come to know you by your voice
Breathing forth the melody …
Ira Porterfield Music from 12-27-15
Embedded within a period, a time, a place
And always moving in its space …
Ira Porterfield Celebration from 4-10-16
O Glorious Lord
We bring to you the gift of voice …
Ira Porterfield Song of Songs from 4-29-16
I come before you
I rest in your presence …
