The Season of Singing

As a church organist, I am often called upon to play at funerals and memorial services. At one particular memorial service, the deceased persons were an older couple, a husband and wife who were living in south Mississippi. The wife had recently had hip surgery. News came that Hurricane Katrina was bearing down upon the Gulf Coast in their area. Since the wife was very uncomfortable following the surgery, and travel would be difficult for her, the couple decided they would ride out the hurricane instead of heading for higher ground.

​And then the unthinkable happened. The couple's home was destroyed and they lost their lives in the flooding after the hurricane. At the service, the pastor chose the text Song of Solomon 8:7, which reads in part, "Many watNot Applicableers cannot quench love." There was not a dry eye in the service as everyone contemplated what it means to love that much.

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After this event, a plan for a suite of pieces about love based on the words of this beautiful ancient text began to form. My first movement addresses falling in love. The second movement relates to love's consummation. The last speaks of love that never dies no matter what events may occur. Truly one of the greatest gifts is to experience this kind of love.