Thou Art the Sky (1989) by Alexander Post
for alto and piano
Thou Art the Sky is one song from The Sea of Light cantata. The music was written to a text by the famous Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali (Song Offerings). The composer has adapted the texts from the collection of prose translations from the original Bengali made by the poet and were published in 1915 by the MacMillan Company of New York.
Sea of Light was commissioned by the Masterworks Chorale of San Mateo who gave the initial performance in 1989.
Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well.
There in the nest it is thy love that encloses the soul with colors and sounds and odors.
There comes the morning with the golden basket in her right hand bearing the wreath of beauty, silently to crown the earth.
And there comes the evening over the lonely meadows deserted by herds, carrying cool draughts of peace in her golden pitcher from the western ocean of rest.
But there, where spreads the infinite sky for the soul to take her flight in, reigns the stainless white radiance.
There is no day nor night, nor form nor color, and never, never a word.
— A. P.
[from program for May 19, 2003 concert]