Snow by Morning

SSA and Piano

It seems to me that, for children, there’s no end to the amount of fun to be had on that day—that one day—after the first snowfall.  This is the feeling I felt American poet May Swenson’s text expressed and what I worked to capture as I sat down to compose. 

Snow by Morning received its premiere on December 11, 2001 and is dedicated in deepest friendship to Darcy Hendriks and Christopher Moan.

The Text

By May Swenson (1919-1989)

Some for everyone,
Plenty,
and more coming—

fresh, dainty, airily arriving
everywhere at once,

transparent at first,
each faint slice—
slow, soundlessly tumbling;

then quickly, thickly, a gracious fleece
will spread like youth, like wheat,
over the city.

Each building will be a hill,
all sharps made round—

dark, worn, noisy narrows made still
wide, flat, clean spaces;

streets will be fields,
cars be fumbling sheep;

a deep, bright harvest will be seeded
in a night. 

By morning we’ll be children
feeding on manna,
a new loaf on every doorsill.

Performed by the Luther College Cantorei
(Christopher Moan, conductor).