Available Editions:

Free PDF edition:

1. Come Let Us Kiss and Part.pdf
2. Happy is the Man.pdf

Printed Edition on Lulu.com:

Two Early Songs for Medium Voice

About "Two Early Songs" for Medium Voice

Both songs were composed in the late 1990s. They are the earliest of my songs I’d feel comfortable about hearing in a concert. Both are on the light-hearted side. They can be sung as a set or individually.

Live performance MP3s:

1. Come, Let us Kiss and Part
2. Happy is the Man that Findeth Wisdom

These performance recordings are from a recital I gave at Brigham Young University in 2000. They are not definitive recordings, but should give you an idea of what the songs are like. Send me a recording of your performance and I’ll be glad to post it here with a link to your site.

The Texts:

1. COME LET US KISS AND PART, poem by Michael Drayton
   
   Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part; 
   Nay, I have done, you get no more of me, 
   And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart 
   That thus so cleanly I myself can free; 
   Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows, 
   And when we meet at any time again, 
   Be it not seen in either of our brows 
   That we one jot of former love retain. 
   Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath, 
   When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies, 
   When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death, 
   And Innocence is closing up his eyes, 
        Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, 
        From death to life thou mightst him yet recover.
   
   
2. HAPPY IS THE MAN, excerpts from Proberbs 3:13-20
   
   Happy is the man that findeth wisdom
   and the man that getteth understanding
   For the merchandise of it
   is better than the merchandise of silver
   and the gain thereof than fine gold
   She is more precious than rubies
   and all the things thou canst desire
   are not to be compared unto her
   Length of days is in her right hand
   and in her left hand riches and honor
   She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her
   and happy is every one that retaineth her
   The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth
   by understanding hath He established the heavens
   By His knowledge the depths are broken up
   and the clouds drop down the dew