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Voicing/Instrumentation: TTB, Orchestra
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If you sing/use this song, please contact the composer and say thank you to Ralph S. Gardner II!
Voicing/Instrumentation: TTB, Orchestra
See more from Ralph S. Gardner II.
Visit composer's personal website.
No user ratings for this song yet. Leave yours by clicking the button above!
More about Ralph S. Gardner II:
See my website home page for info.
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Lyrics: 2-15 Scene <br/>ANDERSON (Approaching with the mantle of the Prophet) <br/>I am searching for one whom this mantle fits; <br/>He must be small, for both he and Joseph's ghost <br/>Must wear it. <br/>Governor Ford, take it <br/>As a gift; you are the full man, of rhetoric complete <br/>And the gift of endearing the people of Illinois. <br/> <br/>FORD <br/>No. Give it to his widow. <br/>FORBES (He unfolds the mantle and displays it) <br/>As the prophet strode before the Saints, it billowed full; <br/>As he stood before them, it was like a testament <br/>That kept him near to God: it ripples with his light, <br/>From gold, and the glass of the earth for seeing. <br/>It is the very veil between him and us as you <br/>Hold it there, John. <br/>ANDERSON (Taking back the mantle and turning it around.) <br/>Here is Joseph, whom you slew <br/>With your neighing assurances: <br/>Tom Ford, shall I place him about you? <br/>FORD (ln fascination) <br/>His mantle? No! <br/>It is as if I only vaguely remember him: <br/>He has slipped away; the issue is settled. <br/>What now can be done? <br/>The mantle shines in the morning sun, <br/>And though he is gone he is not, <br/>But lives in the newness of a man <br/>Awakening from the terror of dreams. <br/>They fall away from him, and I fall away from him. <br/>In Nauvoo his people gather, <br/>And the city is not mine though they give it me. <br/>I am like a stick in the fields, <br/>A standard around which the sparrows chatter <br/>Endlessly of intrigue and fear. <br/>The vessel of the state is not here. <br/>I am what I have been; I become myself <br/>Like the morass below my recognition of it.