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Transitive • withdrawn
1984

soprano
harp
2 percussion
  1: cellophane sheet, claves, glockenspiel, cymbals, hi-hat, metal sheet,
      sizzle cymbal, stones, 2 suspended cymbals, 3 woodblocks, xylophone

  2: bass drum, chimes, 2 gongs, 3 roto-toms, 3 temple blocks, tenor drum, triangle, twigs, vibraphone 

duration 10'

TEXTS
The Wind 
It has broken us
it has crushed us
it has drowned us
o king of the starbright kingdom
the wind has consumed us as twigs are consumed
by crimson fire from heaven 
traditional (Irish) trans.
 Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson 


I Hear that the Axe has Flowered 

I hear that the axe has flowered,
I hear that the place can't be named, 

I heard that the bread which looks at him 
heals the hanged man,
the bread baked for him by his wife, 

I hear that they call life 
our only refuge. 
Paul Celan (1920–1970) trans. Paul Hamburger 


Once

Once I heard him,
he was washing the world, 
unseen,
nightlong,
real. 

One and infinite,
annihilated,
Light was.
Salvation 
Paul Celan (1920–1970) trans. Paul Hamburger 


Psalm

No one moulds us again out of earth and clay,
no one conjures our dust.
No one. 

Praised be your name, no one.
For your sake we shall flower
Towards you. 

A nothing we were, are, shall remain,
flowering,
the nothing
the no one's rose. 

With our pistil soul-bright
with our stamen heaven ravaged
our corolla red
with the crimson word which we sang 

over,
o over
the thorn. 
Paul Celan (1920–1970)
 trans.
 Paul Hamburger 


You are Whiter than the Swan 
You are whiter than the swan on the swampy lake,
you are whiter than the white seagull of the stream,
you are whiter than the snow on the lofty peaks,
you are whiter than the love of the angels of heaven. 

You are the lovely red rowan 
that calms the wrath and anger of all men
like a wave of the sea from flood to ebb 
traditional (Scottish)
 trans. Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson