by Gary Powell
Hopefully not before mid-life, we experience first hand the ever-progressing volatile nature of life. What we thought were permanent gifts in our lives; our pets, our childhood friends, our parents, our mates, our closest family members, our business relationships, and our life-long friends have begun to drift away or die. At this point in life we understand that permanence is a lie, and in that awful truth is the inherent presumption and acceptance that we, ourselves, will also die.
Some things we learn too late. Some things we learn too early. Some things we never learn and others we never have to. – Gary Powell, Maybe I’m It – Maybe I’m Not
This inevitable outcome, our ultimate heritage, is the most bitter pill. Making it worse is the knowledge that this inevitableness moves uninvited and indiscriminately within our closest circles. It moves in shadows and know my friends, the music and lyric mourn, while our soulmate pleads, sweet oneness, depart not. Somehow though, we believed this darkness would never come this close to us. Inexplicably, our well-tooled denial is no longer effective. Some separations will be of choice and will be painful. Others will not be of choice and will also be painful.
The mid-life transition activates a man’s concerns with death and destruction. He experiences more fully his own mortality and the actual or impending death of others. He becomes more aware of the many ways in which other persons, even his loved ones, have acted destructively toward him (with malice, or, often, with good intentions). What is perhaps worse, he realizes that he has done irrevocably hurtful things to his parents, lovers, wife, children, friends, rivals (again, with what may have been the worse of the best of intentions). – Daniel Levinson, The Season’s of a Man’s Life
At this point in “Rhapsody of the Soul,” we have crested the final hill of adulthood, shedding our last vestiges of narcissism, and seen a promised land not of our choosing, but nonetheless, inevitable.
Now Available Online for Worldwide Download from These Stores
Rhapsody of the Soul
(Separation, Loss and the Hope for Healing and Resolution)
An original work for the Austin Contemporary Ballet
Choreographed by Greg Easley, Artistic Director
Composed and Produced by Gary Powell
Latin Translations by Barry Brandenburg
1. Suavis Unitas Ne Discedas (Sweet oneness depart Not.)
2. Veniri Necesse Mihi Pati (It must come. I must suffer.)
3. Prudens Viae Nihil Moveor (I know my path. I do not move.)
4. In Umbris Progreditur Et Novit Amicos (It moves in shadows and knows my friends.)
5. Timens Decedende. Timens Manendi (Scared to leave. Scared to stay.)
6. In Morte Perditus (Lost in death.)
7. Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison (Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.)
Gary Powell – Tenor
Chris Martin – Alto
Illustrations: Antonio Muñoz
All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License
.
by Gary Powell
Hopefully not before mid-life, we experience first hand the ever-progressing volatile nature of life. What we thought were permanent gifts in our lives; our pets, our childhood friends, our parents, our mates, our closest family members, our business relationships, and our life-long friends have begun to drift away or die. At this point in life we understand that permanence is a lie, and in that awful truth is the inherent presumption and acceptance that we, ourselves, will also die.
Some things we learn too late. Some things we learn too early. Some things we never learn and others we never have to. – Gary Powell, Maybe I’m It – Maybe I’m Not
This inevitable outcome, our ultimate heritage, is the most bitter pill. Making it worse is the knowledge that this inevitableness moves uninvited and indiscriminately within our closest circles. It moves in shadows and know my friends, the music and lyric mourn, while our soulmate pleads, sweet oneness, depart not. Somehow though, we believed this darkness would never come this close to us. Inexplicably, our well-tooled denial is no longer effective. Some separations will be of choice and will be painful. Others will not be of choice and will also be painful.
The mid-life transition activates a man’s concerns with death and destruction. He experiences more fully his own mortality and the actual or impending death of others. He becomes more aware of the many ways in which other persons, even his loved ones, have acted destructively toward him (with malice, or, often, with good intentions). What is perhaps worse, he realizes that he has done irrevocably hurtful things to his parents, lovers, wife, children, friends, rivals (again, with what may have been the worse of the best of intentions). – Daniel Levinson, The Season’s of a Man’s Life
At this point in “Rhapsody of the Soul,” we have crested the final hill of adulthood, shedding our last vestiges of narcissism, and seen a promised land not of our choosing, but nonetheless, inevitable.
Now Available Online for Worldwide Download from These Stores
Rhapsody of the Soul
(Separation, Loss and the Hope for Healing and Resolution)
An original work for the Austin Contemporary Ballet
Choreographed by Greg Easley, Artistic Director
Composed and Produced by Gary Powell
Latin Translations by Barry Brandenburg
1. Suavis Unitas Ne Discedas (Sweet oneness depart Not.)
2. Veniri Necesse Mihi Pati (It must come. I must suffer.)
3. Prudens Viae Nihil Moveor (I know my path. I do not move.)
4. In Umbris Progreditur Et Novit Amicos (It moves in shadows and knows my friends.)
5. Timens Decedende. Timens Manendi (Scared to leave. Scared to stay.)
6. In Morte Perditus (Lost in death.)
7. Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison (Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.)
Gary Powell – Tenor
Chris Martin – Alto
Illustrations: Antonio Muñoz
All Content of Gary Powell’s Site is Licensed Under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License
.