— The Human Heart —

2013

Commissioned for the University of Missouri Kansas City, conductor Robert Bode

Published by Walton Music (2014) more info

from Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

…
O joy! that in our embers
Is something that doth live,
That nature yet remembers
What was so fugitive! 
The thought of our past years in me doth breed 
Perpetual benediction: not indeed 
For that which is most worthy to be blest— 
Delight and liberty, the simple creed 
Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, 
With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast:— 
…
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be, 
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither, 
And see the children sport upon the shore, 
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
…
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, 
To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wiki