Nobody Knows What the Wind Is

SATB divisi, a cappella

This piece begins with the wind whistling through the leaves, while the listener lies in bed, safe and warm, wondering what the wind is saying. As they drift into sleep, the wind transforms into a sea of air, with great waves that break on the eaves of the house. By the end, the narrator has left their physical shell behind, to float on the “marvellous tides of the air” toward a joyous new day.

Duration: 4:00 Difficulty: 4 (medium advanced)

Unpublished: contact me to request a perusal score

Text: Walter de la Mare (1873–1956)

Nobody Knows

Often I’ve heard the Wind sigh
By the ivied orchard wall,
Over the leaves in the dark night,
Breathe a sighing call,
And faint away in the silence,
While I, in my bed,
Wondered, ’twixt dreaming and waking,
What it said.

Nobody knows what the Wind is,
Under the height of the sky,
Where the hosts of the stars keep far away house
And its wave sweeps by —
Just a great wave of the air,
Tossing the leaves in its sea,
And foaming under the eaves of the roof
That covers me.

And so we live under deep water,
All of us, beasts and men,
And our bodies are buried down under the sand,
When we go again;
And leave, like the fishes, our shells,
And float on the Wind and away,
To where, o’er the marvellous tides of the air,
Burns day.

Planning a performance? Let me know!