Fellow Unitarian Universalist Martha Kirby Capo
wrote the text for this piece. I was seeking a text that
honored marriage, through both the easy and the difficult times.
I did not want a piece that was sanguine, for my father was
struggling with late stage Parkinson's disease, and my mother's side of
the marriage had evolved to the role of the caretaker. It
turned out that Martha's in-laws had recently celebrated their 50th
anniversary, and her father-in-law suffered from Parkinson's disease
too. I found the message her text offered was absolutely
perfect for what I sought to communicate in the piece:
BELOVED, MY HOME
by Martha Kirby Capo
Our lives have been a sacrament,
Each to the other.
I added my breath to your breath,
And mingled my soul with your own.
No matter what roads we did travel,
Beloved, in you, was my home.
Our lives have been a sacrifice,
Each with the other.
Our branches, entwined, intersect;
Entangled, my roots are your own.
No matter what roads we now travel,
Beloved, in you, is my home.
Our lives have been a sacred gift,
Each for the other.
Enshrined in my heart, be at rest;
Enfolded, your heart is my own.
No matter what roads we will travel,
Beloved, in you, I've come home.
This was our first collaboration together, and since then Martha and I
have worked together on a number of other pieces.
Beloved, My Home
was written in 2007.
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