From Where I Stood

SATB and piano

In life there are plenty of things to feel stressed about. Whether it be too much homework at once or a seemingly never-ending cascade of bills to pay (or a deadline to write a new piece of choral music) there are always things that demand our focus and, for some reason or another, make us feel like we’ll never have enough time to be successful. What I love about Millay’s text is that, at the end, she just throws her hands up at it all and forces herself to relax.

From Where I Stood was commissioned by the Ankeny High School Concert Choir (Dr. Brandon Dean, conductor).

The Text

By Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced a line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I’d started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.

Over these things I could not see:
These were the things that bounded me;
And I could touch them with my hand,
Almost, I thought, from where I stand.
And all at once things seemed so small
My breath came short, and scarce at all.

But, sure, the sky is big, I said;
Miles and miles above my head;
So here upon my back I’ll lie
And look my fill into the sky.

Performed by the Ankeny High School Concert Choir
(Dr. Brandon Dean, conductor).