The Will of a Sailor

A reflection on the inevitability of death, inspired by Irish folk music.

3.5 min • Composed 2023 • PURCHASE ttbb • ssaa • satb

Composer’s notes

After my father's death in a paragliding accident in 2023, I began to relate to Robert Louis Stevenson's Requiem on a more personal level. Not only is this piece a requiem, but it's also a sendoff. Inspired by Irish folk music, it captures the nostalgia of remembering someone who's passed on. The sailor. The hunter. The adventurer. These words more or less capture who my father was. He was also a musician, and without him I would not be able to study music — which is a great privilege. So this is, in a way, a song of gratitude. Writing it helped me process my emotions during a season of grief. I hope it can serve a similar purpose for others.

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Lyrics

Text from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “Requiem.”

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.