Honey River (2019)
Baritone and Piano
Text:
Honey River
Stop beside Honey River
stop and ask
about a night I stayed there
until dawn, despite the gossips,
drinking the wine that comes
from the mouth or cutting
the rose of bashfulness.
We embraced like the limbs
of the trees embrace
over the stream.
There were cups of cool wine;
the Northwind was our cupbearer.
Flowers offered us
the aloe’s fragrance.
Reflections of floating lights
pointed like lances
at the cuirasse of the river.There we stayed until
the jewels of frost
forced us to separate.
at the cuirasse of the river.There we stayed until
the jewels of frost
forced us to separate.
The nightingale’s song
made me feel sadder still.
—Ibn Abi Rawh
