Tags
music, poetry, sailing, Sea of Cortez, Stars, Troy Armstrong, universe
One of my poems has been set to music. An amazing composer, Troy Armstrong, emailed me earlier this year and told me how he had found one of my early blog posts called “Swimming Among the Stars,” which featured a poem I had written long ago. He was so moved by the poem he set it to music.
His choral piece is called “Swimming Among the Stars,” and while I was thrilled and honored that he should do such a thing, I was blown away by the song itself, which is hauntingly beautiful. You can listen to it at the link above.
While it’s meant to be sung and he’s working on having it recorded by a choral group, what you hear below is from a synthesizer. Even so it’s incredible . . . tell me what you think. I’m so deeply humbled by it. You might want to visit his website and hear more of his music. Some created for orchestra, string quartets, solo instruments, and voice.
The poem and part of the post that inspired this music is copied below, or you can read the original here, which included a night swim. It was written when we were sailing across the Sea of Cortez one moonless night. Here’s what I wrote in that post:
We sail across the universe on the back of a tiny planet at the edge of a galaxy that swirls around us. Too often we forget that–how embedded we really are in the universe.
I became acutely aware of this one night when we were crossing the Sea of Cortez from Baja to mainland Mexico. There was no wind, no moon. The sea was perfectly still like the surface of a dark mirror, marred only by our trailing wake.
Above us the bare mast stirred a billion stars, which were reflected in the sea’s surface below. I felt like we were on a starship sailing through the cosmos. Later that night I wrote this:
Night Crossing, Sea of Cortez
The sea appears so simple
With a dark, indulgent face
The stars there twice reflected
Like a world spun out of space
Our sloop shoots through the cosmos
Through a mute and moonless night
Our wake a fiery comet
Streaming effervescent light
With all the universe inert
We slip from star to star
Then reach across the Milky Way
Toward galaxies afar
Eons swirl, light-years unfurl
And none can still our flight
Leaping toward the infinite
To apprehend the light.
I’m not alone in seeing the overlap between the ocean and the night sky. Various artists are fond of depicting whales and dolphins and other sea creatures swimming among the stars.
The ocean and the universe stand at the edge of the wild, the last two true frontiers we have to explore, except for the human consciousness, of course. The ocean and the universe have become symbols for consciousness as well as adventure.
We seem to grasp that there is something that connects all three—some deep, dreamy, ever-flowing, ungraspable, powerful yet nurturing element in which we all are steeped. That calls us to move beyond ourselves, beyond the safe and familiar, the already known. That inspires us to reach for something that lies just beyond our grasp.
I’m still reaching. Are you?
Reblogged this on dliwcanis.
Thanks for the reblog!
Always reaching ❤
Reblogged this on Passionate Dreaming and commented:
Always reaching ❤ Never stop
Thanks for the reblog!
Loved what u wrote. No need to thank me 🙂
How amazing that is! I took a listen and it is beautiful! I got chills. 😉
I’m glad you listened! I was moved to tears when I first heard it.
How exciting. What a great title for your poem/song. The music is lovely too.
Thank you, it was exciting.
It is beautifully done. Thank you.
Thank you, Malcolm.
Both, your poem and his music are hauntingly beautiful…
Thank you, Dominique.
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So glad I clicked over from SheWrites to hear this. Very exciting.
I’m glad you did too. Thank you.
What an incredible honor … and the music pairs beautifully with your words.
I agree! thank you for saying so.
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Got to this post via the suggested posts at the end of your 12/21/16 post…Love the connection.
Has this been performed anywhere since its creation? Since he’s active with church choirs, I’m thinking he has ‘access’ to vocalists…perhaps you’ve already been a part of its premiere performance?
Did Troy send you a complimentary copy of the score for your own collection?
Belated congrats…the piece “sounds” like you, Deborah.
peace
Hi Laura, I don’t think it’s been performed yet. He said he was going to “soon” but that’s been over a year now. I think he’d put it up on his site if he had. I hope he does. I’d love to here it sung one day.I did get a complimentary copy of the score, and now that I’m playing piano again, I want to see if I can play this. i haven’t tried yet, a bit intimidated. But I love the music he wrote for the poem, and I love several of his other pieces on his site. I feel very flattered and humbled by his doing this.