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teksten van Charles Anthony Silvestri
Lees hier de volledige teksten van Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil, uitgevoerd door het Vlaams Radiokoor in 2026.
The Sacred Veil (2019) is een ingrijpend 12-delig werk dat ontstond uit een hechte samenwerking tussen componist Eric Whitacre en dichter Charles Anthony Silvestri. Het stuk vertelt het ontroerende verhaal van de relatie tussen Silvestri en zijn overleden vrouw Julie, haar strijd tegen kanker en de weg van rouw na haar overlijden in 2005.
1. The Veil Opens
Whenever there is birth or death,
The sacred veil between the worlds
Grows thin and opens slightly up
Just long enough for Love to slip,
Silent, either in or out
Of this our fragile, fleeting world,
Whence or whither a new home waits.
And our beloved ones draw near,
In rapt anticipation, or
In weary gratitude, they stand;
Our loved ones stand so close, right here,
Just on the other side
Of Eternity.
— Charles Anthony Silvestri
2. In a Dark and Distant Year
In a dark and distant year,
A wand’rer ancient and austere,
He surrounds himself with books he’s never read.
He was a child then, the world inside his head.
He would often wonder, “Who
Could love a dreamer such as you?”
And so he trusted no one’s shadow but his own.
He was a fool then, and he was all alone.
Then quite to his surprise,
Passing there before his eyes,
A girl unlikely, gently laughing by the shore.
She had unlocked his heart and let his spirit soar!
And on that golden, hopeful day
The boy was bold enough to say,
“Come, hold my deepest secrets here among the foam;
You are the world to me, and you… you feel like home.”
— Charles Anthony Silvestri
3. Home
You feel like home.
— Charles Anthony Silvestri
4. Magnetic Poetry
The enormous need
Egg-ache whispers urging
Moon wind chanting like sweet languid honey
Sleep-swimming through sweaty summer
Dream mists
The delirious girl
Woman goddess
Not yet a mother
But the spring life force is so near
What a bare symphony here
I recall our gorgeous moments together
Beneath my heaving peach skin
Essential you
Like some diamond gift incubating
In love
— Julia Lawrence Silvestri
5. Whenever There is Birth
(Instrumental)
6. I’m Afraid
I'm afraid we found something...
[Fifteen centimeter retroperitoneal cystic mass with complex internal septation...
The patient is a twenty-eight-year-old white female, primagravida, in the third trimester of pregnancy.]
I'm afraid we found something...
[Pathology confirms grades I, II, and III mucinous cystic adenocarcinoma with focal carcinosarcoma consistent with ovarian primary.
Recommend six cycles Taxol and Carboplatin...]
I'm afraid we've found something...
[…two left adnexal cysts and a
septated right adnexal cyst…]
I'm afraid we've found something...
[…exploratory laparotomy and excision of bilateral ovarian dermoids…]
I'm afraid we've found something...
[…uterus, tubes, sacral pain… ovaries… recurrent, recurrent, recurrent…]
[Exploratory laparotomy,
total abdominal hysterectomy,
bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy,
paraaortic lymphadenectomy
Bone scans in sacrum, left ilium, right acetabulum
metastasis...
metastasis…
metastasis…]
I'm afraid we found something...
I'm afraid we found something...
I'm afraid.
— Charles Anthony Silvestri
7. I Am Here
(Instrumental)
8. Delicious Times
My hair started to fall out at precisely 1:00 on my birthday.
By Thursday it was making a terrible mess, so the kids helped me shave off whatever was left. They’d pick up my hair from the ground and slap it on my head and say, “You need more hair!” and they would laugh and laugh. Then at bath time I wore my wig, and they would beg me to take it off and put it back on again - they howled with laughter.
At bedtime, when my little one plays with my hair, she just stroked my head and said, “It’s so soft and clean!” She says, “Mommy, your hair went bye-bye but it’ll be back soon!” I was most worried about her because she loves my hair so much, but she is just fine!
Today I visited my oldest at school and he shouted, “Hey everybody! My mom has a wig!” He was the star of the class as all the kindergarten stared, open-mouthed, in wonderment. It’s been a very funny week. The kids have been amazing, and we’ve had some really delicious times together.
— Julia Lawrence Silvestri
9. One Last Breath
In a dark and distant year,
The wand’rer weary, full of fear,
Confronts a fated force more powerful than life —
A carriage made of sea
Has come to take his wife.
The waves too dark and deep to swim,
He hears his love cry out to him,
Her piercing anguish rising high above the foam.
“Please don’t let go of me
For you, you are my home!”
From the shore he sees his bride
As she fights hard against the tide.
He swears a sacred vow that every loved one keeps.
He steels himself,
Takes one last breath, and leaps.
— Eric Whitacre
10. Dear Friends
Dear friends: tonight I feel that I must ask you to pray.
I just got out of the hospital tonight and I received some bad news. The scan showed that I had numerous liver and peritoneal metastases. My doctor said this meant I most likely had about two months to live.
I am now asking you to pray as you have never prayed before. Please don’t pray that I will have a peaceful death. Please don’t feel pity for me. Just pray hard. Pray that I will be healed in a miraculous, supernatural way. Pray that God will give me wisdom as to what to do next. Fight with me, don’t give up on me.
— Julia Lawrence Silvestri
11. You Rise, I Fall
Listening to your labored breath,
Your struggle ends as mine begins.
You rise; I fall.
Fading, yet already gone;
What calls you I cannot provide.
You rise; I fall.
Broken, with a heavy hand
I reach to you, and close your eyes.
You rise; I fall.
— Charles Anthony Silvestri
12. Child of Wonder
Child of wonder
Child of sky
Time to end your voyage
Time to die.
Silent slumber calls you
Dark and deep
Child of soft surrender
Child of sleep.
—————
Child of sorrow
Child of rain
There is no tomorrow
No more pain.
Turn your silvered sail
Toward the light
Child of mourning
Child of night.
—————
Child of iridescence
Child of dream
Stars and moons will guide you
Down the stream.
Stretched on ocean waves
Of endless foam
Welcome home my child
Welcome home.
— Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre staat stil bij de grote thema’s uit het leven: liefde, geloof, hoop en vergankelijkheid.
Lees de programmatoelichting bij het concert The Sacred Veil in Brussel.
Marie Gryson van boekhandel Walry stelde een leeslijst samen, geïnspireerd op ons concert The Sacred Veil.
