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Premiere: 19 December 2008 / The Phoenix Concerts / Church of St. Matthew and Saint Timothy, NYC / Ruth Cunningham, Gilda Lyons, and Elaine Valby, voice
Instrumentation: three unaccompanied voices
Duration: 4'
Text: Elizabeth Cunningham
TEXT
O Great mystery
take me to the deep place where the root drinks dark water.
Take me to the ocean floor where the currents sway sea forests.
Show me the high places, too, where the eagle rests on wind
and clouds tumble slowly in their hugeness.
O mother father mystery I am a fretful child
flailing in my smallness. Take me to your breast.
Let me ride the swells of your slow, deep breath.
- Elizabeth Cunningham from Small Bird: Poems and Prayers by Elizabeth Cunningham ©2000 used with permission.