Secular

Choral score

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Text:

The second half of my life will be black 
to the white rind of the old and fading moon. 
The second half of my life will be water 
over the cracked floor of these desert years. 
I will land on my feet this time, 
knowing at least two languages and who  
my friends are. I will dress for the 
occasion, and my hair shall be 
whatever color I please. 
Everyone will go on celebrating the old 
birthday, counting the years as usual, 
but I will count myself new from this 
inception, this imprint of my own desire. 

The second half of my life will be swift, 
past leaning fenceposts, a gravel shoulder, 
asphalt tickets, the beckon of open road. 
The second half of my life will be wide-eyed, 
fingers sifting through fine sands, 
arms loose at my sides, wandering feet. 
There will be new dreams every night, 
and the drapes will never be closed. 
I will toss my string of keys into a deep 
well and old letters into the grate. 

The second half of my life will be ice 
breaking up on the river, rain 
soaking the fields, a hand 
held out, a fire 
and smoke going 
upward, always up. 

- Joyce Sutphen

From Straight Out of View by Joyce Sutphen. Copyright © 1995, 2001 by Joyce Sutphen.
Used by permission of Holy Cow! Press. All rights reserved.