LISTEN, FRIENDS
SATB choir a cappella | 4 minutes | Medium difficulty
Text by Jim Haba
Commissioned by the Triad Vocal Ensemble, Maestra Virginia Johnston for the 2011 Canticles for Life AIDS Benefit Concert
Commissioned for an AIDS benefit concert, Listen, Friends sets Jim Haba's intimate meditation on love, longing, and living fully. The text asks: "When did we last kiss as if it were our last kiss?" With imagery that moves from barnacles clinging to rocks to ecstatic, fluid motion, this piece celebrates love as a force that transcends fear. The piano accompaniment provides gentle support while the choral writing creates moments of tenderness and passionate intensity.
Perfect for: LGBTQ+ programming, benefit concerts, Valentine's or pride celebrations, any program exploring love and human connection.
Listen!
We live like barnacles clinging to rocks
Swept night and day by tides of love.
Let's not waste time asking if war is ever good.
With each flood curiousity, desire, ecstatic action.
With each ebb suspicion, dread, armored solitude.
What stands between us and what we want?
What could we want except to live as love,
Fluid and in motion, unafraid, and eternal?
Listen, friends,
This drunkenness needs no wine.
When did we last kiss as if it were our last kiss?
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