Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1890
Rani Arbo 1998
Arbo wrote this setting after keeping vigil while her husband’s grandmother, Elizabeth May, was dying peacefully at home at age 97. During the last two days of her life, Mrs. May was still and quiet, but in an unexpected lucid moment she – a lifelong poetry lover – opened her eyes and clearly said, “Sunset and evening star.” which then were the last words she spoke. Rani and her husband Scott looked up the verse, which Tennyson wrote 3 years before he died.
Rani Arbo: https://raniarboanddaisymayhem.bandcamp.com/track/crossing-the-bar
https://raniarboanddaisymayhem.bandcamp.com/track/crossing-the-bar
Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, when I put out to sea, Chorus When I put out to sea, When I put out to sea, And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea. Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell; when I embark; But such a tide as moving seems asleep, too full for sound or foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep turns again home. For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place the flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar.