Closing Prayer (from Sacred Place)
| YEAR: | 2023 |
| DURATION: | 3 minutes |
| CATEGORY: | Choral |
| INSTRUMENTATION: | SATB + Piano |
| PREMIERE: | March 31, 2023 St. Martin's Lutheran Church, Austin, TX Conductor // Craig Hella Johnson |
| TEXT: | Wendell Berry |
| COMMISSION: | Conspirare |
Program Note:
Closing Prayer is an extended version of the final movement from my larger work Sacred Place. This stand-alone version includes both the first and final stanzas from Wendell Berry’s poem, The Porch Over the River.
In the dusk of the river, the wind
gone, the leaves grow still—
The beautiful poise of lightness,
The heavy world pushing toward it.
The last light gathers
on the face of the river.
Now comes the sound of wings
it has grown too dark to see.
—Wendell Berry