The Unexpected Early Hour (Reena Esmail)

The Unexpected Early Hour from A Winter Breviary (Reena Esmail)

Chicago Chamber Choir
Christopher Windle, conductor

from "Carols with the Choir: Songs of Home and Hope", Holiday 2023

--

(Lauds – Raag Ahir Bhairav)

Praise be! praise be!
The dim, the dun, the dark withdraws
Our recluse morning's found.
The river's alive
The clearing provides
Lie down, night sky, lie down.
I feel the cold wind leaving, gone,
I feel the frost's relief.
My tracks in the snow can still be erased
In us, the sun believes.
Winter is, Winter ends,
So the true bird calls.
The rocks cry out
My bones cry out
All the trees applaud.
Ev'ry hard thing lauds.
Lie down, night sky, lie down.
I know the seeding season comes,
I know the ground will spring.
My fate is not night
I don't need to try
Behold! The dawn, within.
Horizon lights across my thoughts,
Horizon lines redraw.
Inside of my throat a rise of the gold
Inside my chest I thaw.
Winter is, Winter ends,
Nothing stays the same.
The moon strikes high,
The sun strikes high and
Now I hear your name:
Earth's Untired Change.
Praise be! praise be!
The unexpected early hour
grows the good light long.
Our darkness ends,
O mercy sun,
Trust can warm us all.
Begin again, again, again,
O may our day begin!

Rebecca Gayle Howell