Pilgrim

From Wyckham:
Rachel and Milo are talking about using one of my all-time favorite oldy-timey songs in the show. Pilgrim. Here are some thoughts from the liner notes of Spine, by Cordelia's Dad. Written by Tim Eriksen, the guy you hear singing. "I don't know a better depiction of the soul homesick for heaven than this one by Samuel Stennett, an English Baptist. The hymn was extremely popular in the late 18th century US, and I bet we know a dozen tunes for it that are still in use."

I had sort of heard it when I was young I guess, because when I first heard this version of it, the melody came back to me instantly. I think the first 20-30 times I listened to this CD, I didn't even hear the words just the haunting sound of their voices, but then the story started to creep out of it and in to my ears and I was dumbstruck. I am not a terribly religious person, mostly because I don't like to name things i.e. heaven, God, etc. Naming something takes the power and mystery away and makes it pedestrian for me. However, music creates a terrific spirituality in me that is overwhelming. When I was back in New Hampshire for a spell, I sang in my church choir every Sunday. It was an incredible meditation for me, but sometimes I would literally burst in to tears while singing. My mouth would be wide open in the middle of a note and I would gasp for air as tears streamed down my face. Luckily, we were in the organ loft behind the congregation so I stayed fairly anonymous in my seeming outbursts.
So, maybe those are my moments with God or whatever you want to call it. If I ever witnessed God, it was surely while watching someone sing--Bobby McFerrin to be exact, yeah that Don't Worry Be Happy guy, trust me, listen to his other stuff, he is blessed by something not of this earth.
Anyway, all of this is to say, I'm terribly worried about singing this song and not being able to finish because I'm a big baby blubbering all over the place. It's a song with some power.

The words...
On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye,
to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

Oh, the transporting, rapturous scene that rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight.

There generous fruits, that never fail, on trees immortal, grow.
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales with milk and honey flow.

O'er all those wide extended plains shines one eternal day.
There God, the sun, forever reigns, and scatters night away.

No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath, can reach that healthful shore.
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place, and be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father's face, and in his bosom rest?

Filled with delight, my raptured soul can here no longer stay.
Though Jordan's waves around me roll, fearless, I launch away.