The Voces8 U.S. Scholars, the U.S.-based training ensemble of the acclaimed British vocal group Voces8, perform Minnesota composer Jake Runestad’s “Give Me Hunger” — recorded exclusively for Minnesota Public Radio at its flagship studio in St. Paul. The 2018 work is a setting of “At a Window,” by Carl Sandburg — “one of my favorite poets,” the composer says.
Text:
Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!
But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.
Music ©2018 by Jake Runestad. All rights reserved. Used with kind permission of the composer. Find out more at www.jakerunestad.com.
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