Meciendo – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett

Text by: John Donne

Instrumentation: SATB a cappella

Duration: Approx. 1'30" minutes

Date Written:  1978

Composer’s note: Gabriela Mistral’s little poem “Meciendo” first appeared in Ternura, the second collection of her poetry, published in 1924 in Spain. This lullaby was written in 1978 for a small but intrepid choir of composers – one of the projects of the Minnesota (now American) Composers Forum. 
– Carol Barnett

text

MECIENDO

El mar sus millares de olas
mece, divino.
Oyendo a los mares amantes,
mezo a mi niño.

El viento errabundo en la noche
mece a los trigos.
Oyendo a los vientos amantes,
mezo a mi niño.

Dios Padre sus miles de mundos
mece sin ruido.
Sintiendo su mano en la sombra,
mezo a mi niño.

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)

The sea divinely rocks
its thousands of waves.
Listening to the loving waters,
I rock my child.

The wind, wandering in the night,
rocks the fields of wheat.
Listening to the loving winds,
I rock my child.

God the Father noiselessly rocks
his thousands of worlds.
Feeling his hand in the shadow,
I rock my child.

(translation – Carol Barnett)