"Curfew" from Phrenic Crush, a music theater piece (1997)

from Blueprints I by Lisa Bielawa

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Lisa Bielawa, voice
Molly Morkoski, piano
Text by Erik Ehn

Phrenic Crush was a music-theater piece that was based on historical research into the impact of the TB epidemic on lower income populations in San Francisco. This song - “Curfew” - is actually about a young woman’s experience rushing home to obey the curfew.

lyrics

Candles low,
I ply the dust of the road,
The grit of destroyed tallow
That toys in the candle smoke,
The curfew bell has rung
And from St. Anthony’s
(Finder of lost articles)
Down Golden Gate to the Ambassador
Is a very short way
At least I got to pray.
Curfew,
Too few
Hours in the day.
I will get home before the
parabola
Of red leaves the curling wick,
Before I get sick.

Before the red of a thousand
Declining candles
Which I have gathered in
My mind’s eye
To one dull pilot
spiritualizes
To smoke plume,
Curfew,
Too few
Hours in the day.
At least I got to pray.
Curfew broken,
Curfew remains.

-Erik Ehn

credits

from Blueprints I, released August 14, 2020

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about

Lisa Bielawa New York, New York

Lisa Bielawa is a Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition. Bielawa’s work consistently incorporates community-making, including her made-for-TV-and-online opera Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser; Broadcast from Home, a large-scale interactive work in response to the coronavirus pandemic crisis; and music for public spaces in NYC, San Francisco, Berlin, Rome, and more. ... more

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