I Wish it Were T. S. Eliot (2009)

for tenor & piano
Text by Julia Adolphe
Commissioned by Dr. Neal Zaslaw
3 minutes

WORLD PREMIERE
Zachary Wadsworth, tenor; Catharine Likhuta, piano
May 1, 2009, Ithaca, NY

"Morning at the Window"
I never want to rise again
Don't shy away
You are the smile behind my lips
A passing thought -
Awaken all my senses so I may rise
Transposing into air
Open your ways
You've weakened my senses
I wish it were -
Read to me
Of Macavity, "Hysteria," and the "Whispers of Immortality"
I'€™m holding T. S. Eliot
I wish it were you

I Wish it Were T. S. Eliot reflects the impact an individual person, and a single poem, can have on another human being.