When All That's Left of Me Is Love

from Songs for the Journey

SATB Chorus (divisi) and keyboard
Duration: 3 Minutes
Text: Anonymous, adapted from the poem “Epitaph” by Merrit Malloy
Year: 2010

Commissioned by: Concord Chorale
Premiered by: Concord Chorale, Concord, NH, Ryan Turner, director, April 17, 2010

E. C. Schirmer Music Company #8786

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  • Songs for the Journey was originally commissioned to be a companion piece to the Fauré Requiem. I have long admired this work for its personal tone, and for the way in which Fauré emphasized the beauty and intimacy of the traditional Latin texts. In assembling the movements of Songs for the Journey, I chose texts with uniquely personal stories and connections. More Love, a song I had written for my wife when we were expecting our first child, became the cornerstone movement. Together, the five movements explore similar themes as the traditional requiem—love, faith, and mortality—but in a non-liturgical framework, with poems and texts drawn from a variety of sources.

  • When I die,
    if you need to weep,
    cry for someone
    walking in the streets beside you.
    And when you need me,
    put your arms around others
    and give them
    what you need to give me.

    You can love me most by letting
    hands touch hands
    and souls touch souls.

    You can love me most by
    sharing your joys
    and multiplying your generosity to others.

    You can love me most
    by letting me live in your eyes
    and not just in your mind.

    Love doesn’t die,
    people do.
    So when all that’s left of me is love,
    give me away.