Saturday, May 31, 2008

Goin' Home

(adapted from a Black Spiritual)

Goin' home, goin' home;
I'm a-goin' home.
Quiet-like, some still day:
I'm just goin' home.

It's not far, just close by,
Through an open door;
Work's all done, care laid by:
Going to fear no more.

Nothing's lost, all gain;
No more fret nor pain.
No more stumbling on the way
No more longing for the day:
Going to roam no more.

Morning star* lights the way;
Restless dream all done.
Shadows gone, break of day:
Real life just begun.


Goin' home, goin' home;
I'm just goin' home:
It's not far, just close by,
Through an open door.
I'm just going home.

* Jesus is called the "Morning Star" in Revelations 22:16 & elsewhere

(used by Anton Dvorak as the basis for the "Largo" in his New World Symphony)

2 comments:

Triona Trog said...

Dvorak's "Largo" is one of my favourite pieces to play!

C. Marie Byars said...

I love the "New World Symphony"---it's one of the rare classical compositions past the baroque era that I just truly adore. To me it sounds like North America when it was young---I can just imagine woodland eastern Indians padding through the woods and embarking in canoes. And the unfortunate plight of the slaves comes through, too, in his use of the spiritual (which he later denied borrowing from after a few too many people told him how clever the use of the spiritual was!!!) I know serious music critics often find this symphony to be too "light weight", but, as I said, I just adore it!