We Are the Lucky Ones

Getting asked to compose a work that pairs well with Carmina Burana required a great deal of patience and trial and error. The iconic Carmina Burana features texts that span a barrage of human emotions that are often sensational. The commission led me down many different avenues of thought and exploration before collaboratively settling on two themes central to its form: fortune and desire.

I heard it said somewhere that the key to success and happiness in life is simple: figure out what it is that you want from life, then figure out how to ask for it. You’d think that the journey to finding what it is you truly want would also be simple, but I wrestle with this regularly, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Then, in early June of 2024, when I was just getting started on this work, my friend and I attended a poetry reading of 3 Minnesota authors, including Freya Manfred, an artist whose work I’ve set to music several times. She read from her new book titled When I Was Young and Old, a poem called “In a Sad Time What Do I Desire?” So much wisdom is contained in this short poem. “I want to laugh a liquid laugh, every gurgling morsel of me cascading like water over singing stones.“ Yes. This is it, this is what I want: laughter, frivolity, joyfulness. But it was the last two lines that captured my heart. “Laugh! Because the more I remember and then forget, the more I will be free.” Yes. Often happiness is the result of learning to let go, being able to forgive, being present in the moment, acknowledging negative emotions and dismissing them, and living a life that is filled with gratitude. And not only do we want this for ourselves, we want to see this happiness in the next generations, which made the inclusion of a children’s choir a perfect addition. Their beautiful singing and energy brings a special joy that is hard to capture in other ways.

The theme of fortune, or luck, was more challenging. We decided to commission another Minnesota poet, Julia Klatt Singer, to fill this need. Julia’s poem centers on the liquid nature of our circumstances and ourselves. The title of the first movement is “Our Bodies Mostly Water.” As a composer I deeply enjoyed exploring the nature of water and its liquidity, as well as its connection to the journey of our lives. I decided to compose in Rondo form: A B A C A B A, to portray this movement, flowing in and out of different sections, like different countries on a map. I was also very interested in sudden shifts, aural reminders that one’s luck can “change on a dime.” The a cappella section near the end of this movement encapsulates the importance of perspective and mindfulness. “That we exist at all, that we were born, chosen to live, out of all the matter in the universe, we are here, in these bodies, with these voices, singing.” Only through this self awareness and practice of gratitude are we truly able to let go, and the beauty of the world is revealed to us. We can enjoy the blessings around us and be joyful. If we can see and understand that, then we truly are the lucky ones.

1. “Our Bodies Mostly Water”

We find in the morning light
remnants of fire,
the remainders of our dreams drift
like ash.

We dream of paradise.
We want for Eden.
Then dream the desert.
Then want for rain.

Our bodies mostly water
meant to move and spill.

Luck, is just that, luck.
Where we are born, who has given
us a name, and who might,
in an instant, take it all away.

We all want to be useful.
We all want to be loved.
Acknowledge this
in the sadness in our joy.

Calculate loss
in the cool wind against our skin.
What divides us thunders.
What subtracts us stings.

War, famine, danger,
disease, and disaster
come knocking 
at our neighbor’s door.

So many of us
forced to flee, seek safety
in another land, unable to return
to the place we come from.

Our bodies mostly water
meant to move and spill.

Multiply these feelings
like rain, let them fall.
Let them river, come in waves
find a shore.

Let them become
the earth again.
And like the earth,
give life the beauty to begin.

Our bodies mostly water
meant to move and spill.

Luck is just that, luck.

That we exist at all, that we were born,
chosen to live, out of all the matter
in the universe, we are here, in these
bodies, with these voices, singing.

We are the lucky ones.

Julia Klatt Singer

2. “In A Sad Time What Do I Desire?”

I want to laugh a liquid laugh,                                   
every gurgling morsel of me     
cascading like water over singing stones – 

laugh until my heart and lungs are empty,       
and go on laughing until I’m well-fed 
and fall in love with everything – 

let go of my place, and my body in that place, 
and surrender to nonstop giggles, gasps,
chortles and chuckles –   

laugh until I cry, and discover 
the sapphires tumbling from my eyes are tears
rising from a deep sea of hope and sorrow.  

Laugh!  Because the more I remember 
and then forget, the more I will be free.  

Freya Manfred