A Christmas Pair (Two Anthems for Christmastide for SATB chorus and organ)
1. Down to the Roots of the World
2. Lumen de Lumine
A Christmas Pair is the result of a 1989 commission from Jean Lubs of Binghamton, New York honoring the 1 July 1989 birthday of her husband, Dr. Vernon C. Lubs I wish to thank the Kennebunkport, Maine poet and copyright holder, Christine Teale Howes, for her kind permission to use and reproduce her poetry in A CHRISTMAS PAIR (Two Anthems for Christmastide).
Dan Locklair
1. Down to the Roots of the World
(from A CHRISTMAS PAIR)
Nor gather flowers now, their fragrance lies
a summer’s lovely total in the hay;
When in that distant barn a baby cries,
the peasant mother sings a roundelay.
Nor gather flowers now, when here is love,
grand roots this network for a world in storm
–the wind, the singing angels and the dove–
unsatellite as all things aeriform.
When angels rode the winds of Christmas night,
they sang ecstatic praises of a birth,
calling this new born Child the Prince of Light,
the King of Glory, Rose of Heaven and Earth.
Nor gather flowers now, diversify:
weave this wild boy a bright heraldic butterfly.
From CHRISTMAS POETRY by
Christine Teale Howes
.
2. Lumen de Lumine
(from A CHRISTMAS PAIR)
1.
Lumen de lumine,*
in this Advent apple tree
— a solis ortus cardine —
[risen from the direction of the sun]
watch for angel sesame.
2.
Lumen de lumine
knowing something of the night
— O lux beata, Trinitas! —
[O blessed light, O Trinity]
knowing more than speed of light.
3.
Lumen de lumine,
next year’s fruit within the bough
— dulcis super omnia —
[Sweet above all earthly things]
why not find the angel now?
4.
Lumen de lumine,
the angel irritant is here
— in sempiterna saecula —
[Whilst we run this earthly race]
haloed is the angel’s sphere.
*Lumen: the light which the darkness did not comprehend. Sigrid Undset: Christmas and Twelfth Night.
5.
Lumen de lumine,
in nearby barn, new evensong
— Christo paremus cantica —
[Let us prepare songs to Christ]
notes that with a birth belong.
6.
Lumen de lumine,
energy and time refract
— jacent mundi gaudia —
[Joy of heaven to earth He brings]
once again the Holy act.
7.
Lumen de lumine,
from tree to barn angelic tread
— nascitur in stabulo —
[He is born in the stable]
in burnished barn in little bed.
From CHRISTMAS POETRY
by Christine Teale How