Buelow: Heaven-Haven

This beautiful work by Buelow uses a text by 19th Century priest Gerard Manley Hopkins with deep meaning.

Heaven-Haven

A nun takes the veil

I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies below

And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the heavens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

At the time of composition, Buelow wrote:

Heaven-Haven; A nun takes the veil is a beautiful request for peace and rest for the soul and spirit, and has particular significance for me. The music was written at the time my father was dying from cirrhosis of the liver. The last sentence he spoke to me was "Bill, it can't be too bad to die." In an enigmatic way, my father's last statement, Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, and my musical setting of his poem converged the first week of June in 1987, the final week of my father's life. The orchestration of the work was done between visiting hours in the cafeteria of St. Ann's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. This work has become for me since then, a precious reminder of the sacrifice, love, and devotion my father gave for his family.