Gold (from Poem Symphonies) (1990)

String Orchestra – 5 min.
Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing.

[3str orch.]

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Program Note

Gold is one of a series of Poem Symphonies. Each “symphony” is inspired by the work of a contemporary American poet. The symphonies are not attempts to get poetry to music, but rather each proceeds from a poem, using the visions, images, and atmosphere of the poem as a point of departure. Gold is written for the string section of the orchestra.

“Gold”
by Donald Hall

Pale gold of the walls, gold
of the centers of daisies, yellow roses
pressing from a clear bowl. All day
we lay on the bed, my hand
stroking the deep
gold of your thighs and your back.
We slept and woke
entering the golden room together,
lay down in it breathing
quickly, then
slowly again,
caressing and dozing, your hand sleepily
touching my hair now.

We made in those days
tiny identical rooms inside our bodies
which the men who uncover our graves
will find in a thousand years,
shining and whole.

“Gold” reprinted by permission of the author from
The Yellow Room, Houghton Mifflin,
© 1969 by Donald Hall.