To Nora

I was introduced to Charles Ives in my High School Music Theory class. We sat in a kind of gross storage room just outside the choir room that sat the six of us. We spent most of our talking about Sarah Palin or gossiping about our teachers. I honestly didn't learn a whole lot in that class about music theory (that was my own fault) but if all I took away was Charles Ives, than that class was still worth while. We listened to a recording of Variations on America (1891) which is also known as his 4th of July Symphony. If you listen to it, especially the last two minutes of it you will realize why as a teenager I thought it was wild crazy awesome. For the last couple of years I listened to other works of his and have a soft spot for his art songs. He's like a happier, more sentimental, less surreal Ned Rorum. And when I became pregnant with Nora and listened to the songs he wrote for his daughter, they touched my heart.

"To Edith" is a song he wrote for his adopted daughter Edith. The words were actually written by his wife Harmony and Ives put it to music. Not everyday here is smiles and kisses but this song encompasses the best part of parenthood. In the video they give a more detailed background for the song. The music begins at 1:10 and don't worry if by the end of this there is a swelling in your chest and a few tears at the corners of your eye - that's totally normal.

So like a flower,
thy little four year face in its pure freshness
That to my bedside comes each morn
in happy guise - I must be smiling too.
O, little flower-like face that comes to me,
each morn for kisses -
Bend thou near me while I inhale its fragrance sweet
and put a blessing there.