The poem "Winter" was written for a commission for choir and brass by composer Andrew Petrasiunas. The first section, "Shingebiss," was used as the libretto, and the title of the piece. The gorgeous world premiere recording by London Pro Musica, the Aeolian Winds and Brassroots is on the Pro Musica CD "Canadian Voices," available throught their website, where you can also hear a section of "Shingebiss."
Winter
I
Shingebiss
Ice Crystals Pinpoint clear A long single tone Winter cold
Within his lodge Shingebiss His wings enfold dead logs Today he cut a hole through the thick bay ice He caught the fish to fill his beak To fill his belly The fish are life In the winter cold
Old Man Wind came and blew his frigid words Over Shingebiss and his fishing hole Old Man Wind with his frostbite beard His ice chip eyes And since Shingebiss was afraid to cry Shingebiss laughed instead At the winter cold
The stunted trees rise From the shallows of the bay Shingebiss is shivering Feathers ruffled Head is bowed And bends his beak to tap anew To break the ice To catch the fish To stay alive In winter cold
One day he will invite Old Man Wind Into his lodge And as he laughs Will light the fire And feed that fire To make Old Man Wind cry And Shingebiss will make him flee To the stunted trees and bitter cold And Shingebiss will dream instead Of summer riches Grass so lush Fish to fill his belly And his trick on Old Man Wind To break the reign of winter cold
A long single note Pinpoint clarity Crystals of ice
II
The Ice Storm
Uncertain Where yesterday the world made sense Crack The rain pelts down A hair's breadth less than ice The weight of it presses down Roads houses trees Crack Powerlines cars and sidewalks Crack and Darkness
A ring of failing branches splitting trees A shower of deadly shards and Glass falls like the frozen rain Darkness Cold Crack
III
A Mountain Descends
Blue chill Red hands White silence
And then - Roar and rumble The earth awakes Shrugs off its winter coat Its false face of civility Ah —
Thunder Winter on the move Like the ice sheets of a hundred thousand Years ago A hundred thousand times more quick A tiny human on tiny feet Swept away Ah —
Thunderclap rolling A wall of snow Land tsunami Juggernaut Swept it clean Covers footprints Covers tracks Covers all the works of men
And echoes fade The storm has passed but Can you hear the cry From those who live And bend their heads where New mountains rise And bend their heads to sudden power And bend their heads to winter
