Love, the Journey, Acceptance

We asked our singers to submit either poetry or prose, that helped to tell our choral concert ‘story’. We couldn’t use all of them in the concert, but we have give them space here on our website, to tell their story. 

We thank all of our talented writers in the chorus. And, we share them all with you, now. The first 3 conversations were spoken during our concert. 

WOW! How did we get here today? I don’t mean HERE, TODAY? But, how did this life journey bring us here? I remember yesterday, well, ok, it SEEMS like just yesterday, that I was young, kind of carefree, and cared for. If we were all lucky enough to have two parents, a father and a mother, MAYBE two mothers, or two fathers, or maybe just one, or maybe, adults that we thought of as being a father to us, or a mother…just maybe, at times, we felt loved. What were our needs at our youngest moments in life, nourishment, shelter, a place that we felt we could safely lay our head at night. Clothes on our back.  In the daytime, a place that we could learn how to care for ourselves, for others. We learned how to be better humans. We learned that our actions can impact others as well as ourselves. We learned how to be able to live the rest of our lives.

As we got a little older, we learned to love. Maybe we experienced our very first crush, a first little bit of flirting, MAYBE even a first kiss. I know that I had a huge need to be loved. So, I kind of understood that probably others were just like me. It took some of us a little longer than the rest of us to figure things out. But, we quickly grew up, graduation bells ringing as we were set free to explore the world, go to college, travel, get our first job. Build new, and perhaps end, relationships. That journey seemed endless, exciting, maybe a little scary at times. But I remember what always helped me keep grounded. It was music, it was the piano, it was singing, it was dancing (but NOT me…. I can’t dance to save my life!)

More friendships, meeting people very similar, and some so very different than I was. It’s ok, I know that we all come from different backgrounds, different colors of skin, different religions, different sexual preferences, different genders, different journeys in life….JUST DIFFERENT. It didn’t matter. I mean, we WERE all HUMAN, weren’t we? Aren’t we? Just different.

But, I get ahead of myself. After all, it started with music, it started with love, it started…. It started the journey!          -Tim Peterson

A Winter Place

There’s a place inside my head

Where trees are bare and leaves are dead, 

Leaves that crunch beneath my knees,

The brittle bones of memories.

I kneel here in spite of dread.

I do not like this lonely space, 

Its monologue I can’t erase,

But still I often feel compelled 

To visit feelings that I’ve held 

In this secret winter place.

There was a time that I would flee

These bouts of guilty reverie.

I feared that I might never leave.

I’d sink into a pile of leaves, 

And that would be the end of me.

But now, I kneel on the ground 

And listen to the awful sound 

Of lies I’ve told and those I’ve hurt, 

Then slide my fingers down to dirt 

And sweep away the leaves I’ve found.

Incessant sounds slowly fade

When I find a tender blade 

Or two of newborn grass so green–

The sweetest sight I’ve ever seen–

Beneath this rotting mess I’ve made.

I linger to remember when 

I hurt the ones I loved. And then 

I memorize how it felt 

And make a promise to myself 

To never feel that way again.

                        -Leah Benner

Acceptance. Absolute acceptance. My initial encounter occurred several years ago

during a social gathering. At that time, I was preparing for a performance of Johannes

Brahms’ “A German Requiem.” The fourth movement, inspired by Psalm 84, “How

lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” was resonating in my mind. While seated in the congregation, I began to perceive each individual not merely as physical beings but as embodiments of divine presence. Looking well beyond the cover that often defines and separates us but into the place where God lives. And in that moment, I understood how lovely each and everyone of us is. It brought a certain joy and purity of heart, free of any prejudice or malice. One of the beatitudes says, “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God.” I felt that presence.

While enjoying our concert this evening, please listen to the music’s message and observe those around you. You will notice loveliness in every person. Feel the joy and purity in your heart, and you will see God. Today, you will receive two gifts: beautiful music from us and a joyful heart from God.

I leave you with the words (slightly paraphrased) of Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Farewell, farewell! But this I tell

To thee, thou Concert-Guest!

He prayeth well, who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

                              -David Cavanaugh

You may have noticed that many things are changing in our country, in the world and in our lives. War, and threats of war seem to be ramping up every day. Tolerance of our fellow human beings seems to be declining. We’re tired and discouraged. It feels like darkness and chaos is moving closer and closer. 

The swirling vortex of despair is threatening to engulf us. How can we hang onto hope? How can we get through this? How do we fight against the darkness, day after day, no matter how difficult?

There’s only one way, my friends. We fight it with each other. We fight it alongside each other. We hang onto each other for dear life, and lift each other up. If we do this we can prevail and recover our hope. We can’t do it alone. We must accept the fact that we need our friends and the people we love in order for us all to get through this. As this last song says, “We’ll hold each other to the light, and we will see this through.” I hope we’ll find the courage to fight on.           -Susie Trost

We speak of life as a journey.  Isn’t that a strange way to describe it?  A journey is like a hike or a road trip.  A journey is a walk on the Appalachian trail, or a drive on the Pacific Coast Highway, or on US 1. Or maybe a long flight to another part of the world.  An event that starts at point A and concludes at point B.  But we are talking about life here. So point A is birth and point B is death.  The journey connects both points. 

For me, the journey of life includes a series of forks in the road – places where we decide which way to go.  When we decide on a direction and go that way our life changes.  Sometimes for the better – sometimes not.  We never really know because we didn’t go the other way.  So when we choose the road less traveled, we take a risk.  But that risk can be what makes the journey interesting.

Thankfully, the vast majority of us live in a world which we share with others.  A spouse, partner, family, friends, a community of like-minded people. We share our love with them and they with us. It is a wonderful way to make the journey. 

So it is important that we seek and receive the acceptance of others as we choose our pathway through life. We can make it alright without the approval of those we love, but having our choices be accepted makes the journey a lot easier.

In “The Pasture”, Robert Frost’s character is planning a walk to the pasture to see the things you see in a pasture.  Grass, leaves, a little calf, a stream of water.  Sounds like a pleasant walk. “I won’t be gone long – You come too.”  The invitation to come along is an invitation for acceptance.  If the person being invited decides to go, then they have demonstrated their acceptance.  

I hope they go together.  It may just make all the difference.

                                                                     -Wayne Hulting

In the swell of an orchestra

In the flight of a bird

In the resounding human soul

We are blessed to know

That spirit rises

In redemptive love.                       -Deborah Jacobson

I LOVE YOU

And to the wind that blows

 I give my love to those 

caught in the tide of life 

make thee my loving wife 

one day the tide will change

 drift to a land that’s strange 

cry to the Silent Wind

 is this our love to end 

rivers flow to the Sea 

it all comes back to me

 on Solid Rock I stand

 I’m holding out my hand

     -Robert Barton, aka Bubba Lownotes

ALLEY

Sleeps in the alley, a few blocks away,

the detritus of surviving piles up,

and she moves one doorway down. Styrofoam

take-out containers, plastic take-out cups,

rain-soaked rags that passed for clothes or blankets

then grew unbearable, unwearable

and it doesn’t bear thinking how filthy.

She smells; well where the hell’s she gonna wash?

She can panhandle enough for a pint,

but no way enough for the cheapest room.

Anyway, who would ever let her in?

She can’t stand up. From somewhere, the wheelchair.

Somehow something must have slipped, no family,

whatever reason, just friends on the street.

Leave stuff in the alley from time to time:

Some cans, with a can opener and spoon,

soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a clean towel,

(hoping she can maybe find some water.)

You think, “I suppose she could use some underwear,”

You do what you can, but you don’t let on.

Not out of delicacy, not even

because you’re afraid she might ask for more.

You think these things out; you’re really thinking

“What if it were me?”                     -Sheri Lohr

Caya Hueso

So many images and thoughts come to mind when we hear those words. The image I think about the most is “Bone Island,” referring to the bones left here by the Indians, the first inhabitants of the Keys. My question is, why did they leave them here? My personal response to that is it’s because they did not want to ever leave Caya Hueso, or Key West, as we know it today.

Whether we are native Conchs, multi generational Key Westers, visitors for a few days, or Key West newbies, kind of like me, we have all been on a journey to get here, to this island, to this sacred space of St. Paul’s tonight, for this concert of love and acceptance and inclusion.

My particular journey to Key West started in July 2023, in Tennessee. After talking with a couple of close friends about the struggles of life, both of them suggested, independently of each other, that I make a visit to Key West. I desperately needed to get away, so I finally decided to make the trip, which happened in August 2023.

On the flight down, I had the deep sensation that this was going to be a life-changing trip. I didn’t know why, or how, but at that point in my life, I was willing to find out why, and how. I had booked four nights at a local inn, close to Duval Street. While I wasn’t really familiar with Key West, I did know about Duval Street, from my friends who had enjoyed time here.

Yes, it was the middle of August. Yes, it was hot and humid. And  yes, not a lot of people around town. You know that time of year! I asked the inn staff for some recommendations for dinner and drinks. I found them on my Maps app, and started wandering around town. This is what I did for four days. I wandered around town, soaking up the atmosphere, and the true kindness to strangers that I observed from the locals. I feel like I wandered around town, with my eyes huge, and my mouth agape, taking in all of the sights and sounds of the community.

It came time for me to leave, and I have to admit, it was hard to pack, and get ready to make the trek back to Tennessee. As I walked out of the inn to meet my Uber, I stopped by the inn’s office and thanked the staff member who was there. I said to her, “You people make it hard to go home!”

As the flight left the ground at Key West Airport, I looked out the window at the disappearing island, and almost burst into tears. I felt the pull, the love, the magic, all of those sensations, pulling me back to the island.

After I got back home to Tennessee, I couldn’t stop thinking of Key West. I was at a place in my life where I needed to start a new adventure, and I actually could start a new adventure. It took me about three weeks to make the decision, and in November 2023, I started my life here in Key West. I say all of this because, as I said earlier, we are all on a journey of life. All of us have life stories to tell. Some of them are exciting and full of adventure, and some, not so much. But they’re our stories, and we need to own them, and celebrate the journeys that we are on.  One song that we sing, “Let Me Listen”, is about accepting our stories, and telling our stories, and being an accepting and attentive listener when someone does tell us their story. As I was thinking about writing this story, it occurred to me that the phrase “Caya Hueso” has the same rhythm and speaking accents as the phrase “Let Me Listen.” The thought just brought all of my scattered thoughts together, and encouraged me to write this story of my journey to Caya Hueso.

We are all on life journeys, and all of us have life stories. Know that somewhere, out there, someone is willing to sit with you and listen to YOUR story, and accept your story, and love your story. It might be the person you’re sitting next to, tonight. It might be a neighbor, a friend, or maybe someone you haven’t met yet. The original “Village People” band recorded a song in the 70’s called “Key West.”. One of the verses in the song says this, “Take a walk down Duval Street. You never know who you’ll meet.” So, sometime soon, AFTER the concert, take a walk down Duval Street. Enjoy the atmosphere, the people enjoying life, and the laughter and music that is part of Duval Street. You never know who you might meet! And…listen to their stories and their journeys. That’s the best part of all.

Finally, I encourage you to listen closely to the words of this song, and the following songs that our amazing conductor has picked for us to perform for you tonight. There is a beautiful message in all of the songs tonight. Listen….open your ears, and your hearts, and just…listen.

Thank you.                                                -Brent Collins

  

Motto: Be Ye O Good Little Choral Canon Fodder

                      And Fall On Your Note.    

                                   -Robert Barton, aka Bubba Lownotes

                  The Lazy Tenor 

Up from the depths of the lowest lows 

with all my Billow and all my Blows

 I sing my song from Head to Toes

 but people, they just hold their nose

 oh how I wish I could sing high

 up in heaven where Angels fly

 but we all know I’d be living a lie 

Hello Lord ,I got to say goodbye

 they need my soul down in the pit

 cuz someone has to sing this ?????

I love it so much I just can’t quit 

and I ain’t alone where I sit 

so come on y’all enjoying the crowd

 say what you got, and sing it out loud

 all you got’s One Life to Live

 it’s the only chance you got to give

Yes I am the lazy tenor

 and the Lord he loves A Sinner

 I got one foot down in the grave 

I pray the Lord, my soul to save 

             amen and amen.                            -Bubba Lownotes