water psalms
Libretto after the Book of Psalms, as paraphrased by George Buchanan and Thomas LaVoy.
i. Videre fluctus
– the water saw you –
listen, hear my voice.
let me call to you this night.
i cannot sleep;
my eyes are filled with water
and i cannot close them.
i remember the songs.
i remember the songs they sang about you;
i still sing them at night,
as i search the deep within.
will you abandon me forever?
will i never hear your voice again?
have you forgotten me in your anger?
must my failure meet with silence?
i remember the words
i remember the words they spoke about you –
you brought water from a stone,
guided exiles through a sea.
the water saw you.
the water saw you and was afraid.
there was a sound from the deep
as your voice came down
to make a path in the water,
to make a way in the sea –
but your footsteps were not seen.
Videre fluctus te tumidi, Deus,
Videre fluctus, et trepido gradu
Fugere: turbavit profundas
Horror aquae vitreae lacunas.
Latin translation by Andrew Waddel (1772):
Psalmus LXXVII | from Psalm 77
The swollen billows saw thee, O God,
the billows saw (thee), and fled with trembling pace:
horror troubled the profound depths
of the glassy-coloured sea.
ii. Quousque
– how long –
Quousque, rector unice
Me destitutum negliges?
An sempiterna me obrutum
Oblivione deseres?
Quousque vultum amabilem
Iratus abscondes mihi?
Quousque curae turbidae
Mentis quietem distrahent?
Quousque cor cruciabitur
Moeroris aestu fluctuans?
Quousque, me prostrato, aget
Hostis triumphos insolens?
how long, lord? will you utterly forget me?
how long will you hide your face from me?
how long must i carry sorrow in my soul,
grief in my songs day after day?
how long will my enemies hold me in the deep?
look upon me, answer me, my god.
take water from my eyes and give me light.
save me from the ones who would watch me drown,
who would laugh as i choke.
i trust in your tenderness.
show me a path in the water –
so i can find the others,
so i can tell them what you've done.
Latin translation by Andrew Waddel (1772):
Psalmus XIII | from Psalm 13
Sole Governour (of the world),
how long wilt thou neglect me (who am) abandoned?
Wilt though forsake me
overwhelmed in everlasting oblivion?
How long in anger wilt thou hide from me
thy lovely countenance?
How long shall turbulent cares
distract the quiet of my mind?
How long shall my heart be tormented,
fluctuating in a tide of grief?
How long shall the insolent foe
triumph over me prostrated.
iii. Aurora
– dawn –
Aurora curru me volucri ut deserat
Ad occidentis limitem,
Hic deprehendes me, nec hic tutus tuae
Vitabo fulmen dexterae.
if i pass through the sky,
to fly on wings of morning,
if i fly to the end of the sea –
your hand will lead me.
if i sink again into the deep,
if dark becomes my light,
you will transform the dark
and all will be one.
you made me
in a secret place.
you wove me
in the utmost depths
you saw my shape,
and gave me form.
you knew my heart
and wrote my mind.
search me.
test me.
change me.
lead me.
i am awake,
i am with you:
show me the path in the water.
listen.
Latin translation by Andrew Waddel (1772):
Psalmus CXXXIX | from Psalm 139
Though the morning should convey me in her
swift chariot to the (farthest) limit of the west,
here thou shalt lay hold upon me, nor safe here
shall I escape the thunder of thy right hand.
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The theme of water in the biblical Book of Psalms is complex and multi-faceted. From chapter to chapter, even at times from verse to verse, water imagery is used to allude to biblical history, to describe feelings of oppression on the part of the Psalmist, and to trace the flow of spirituality back to the source of all waters – that is, to God. This work, water psalms, is a musical exploration of the many variations on the theme of water in the Book of Psalms. It is also, in many ways, a personal and spiritual reaction to the difficulties of 2020, the year in which it was composed.
George Buchanan (1506-1582), who is memorialized both in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh and in one of the kirk’s stained-glass windows, began paraphrasing the Book of Psalms in Latin during his time in exile at a monastery in Portugal. water psalms takes portions of these paraphrases and sets them in conjunction with English paraphrases of my own creation. The resulting libretto is a conversation over a gulf of 400 years – a poet in a time of exile communing with a people in a time of pandemic. In our current situation, it is common for each of us to feel like an exile within our own homes, trapped on these small islands and unable to communicate effectively with the outside world. Fortunately for us, there are those in our history who have written from a similar state of being.
While the Latin paraphrases in water psalms retain the more formal stylings of Buchanan’s writing, the English paraphrases are presented in a more modern form, with flowing stanzas and no capitalization. The removal of capitalization is meant to lend a child-like simplicity to the text; when the deeper machinations of this world conspire to overwhelm our understanding, the feeling can be likened to that of a child with limited knowledge of the complexities of life. So too is the individual’s relationship with God characterized in water psalms; one of child-like trust rather than true understanding.
This poem is not available for use by composers. To commission a new text for use in a musical score, or for any other occasion, please visit my poetry page.
