Program Notes

By the time I wrote this piece at the beginning of my senior year in high school I had already performed two different settings of this text. Having studied this poet in depth, I did not agree with the composer's interpretations of this poem. Knowing that Sara Teasdale committed suicide, and after analyzing this text, I took the whole piece in a much darker direction than I had already heard for this same text. I also wrote it specifically for women's chorus to act as Teasdale's own voice.

I Am Not Yours
By: Sara Teasdale

I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.

Premier: Studio Choir August 21, 2012. Conducted by Clayton Daniel Briggs.