Paroles - Musique Classique, Compositeur John Mitchell

THE ALL-ENCLOSING THEME

Set by John Mitchell  (1941-) op. 55 (1984),
 from Three Songs from the Mystic Trumpeter, no. 2. 
Text by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)


O trumpeter for thy theme,
Take now the enclosing theme of all, 
The solvent and the setting,
Love, that is pulse of all, the sustenance and the pang

The heart of man and woman, all for love
No other theme but love, knitting, enclosing, all-diffusing love
No other theme but love, knitting, enclosing, all-diffusing love
O how the immortal phantoms crowd around me!

I see the vast alembic ever working
I see and know the flames that heat the world,
The glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers,
So blissful happy some, and some so silent dark and nigh to death

Love that is day and night
Love that is sun, moon and stars,
No other words but words of love,
No other thought but love.