SSA + piano
Basic Library, J.W. Pepper

NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER

I wrote this work for the Bel Canto National Tour Choir – a youth treble ensemble that I directed for 18 years. It was written in memory of an elementary teacher who taught in Omaha. She was, by all counts, beloved by administrators, students, and her community. The message of this work is one of encouragement and challenge for her students to “Stay the course,” and not let their dreams be sidetracked; instead – “change the world wherever you are.” The first stanza of the text was written by Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947), and I wrote the remainder.

TEXT

She’s somewhere in the sunlight strong,
Her tears are in the falling rain,
She calls me in the wind’s soft song,
And with the flowers she comes again.

She’s somewhere and I hear her sing,
Her words in timeless memory:
“Stay the course, light a star,
Change the world where’er you are.”

Somewhere the night wind carries her,
A silver moonbeam lights her way.
Antares is her messenger,
And every sun and moon her stay.

She’s somewhere and I hear her sing,
Her words in timeless memory:
“Stay the course, light a star,
Change the world where’er you are.”

* [Antares is one of the brightest stars in the universe.]