Story behind the song
Kevin Riley of the Sons of Sibelius forum has been posting poems and sonnets and challenging the members to put them to music. I like this. It's good practice and rather fun. The vocal was recorded with my laptop's tiny, but functional, microphone. And Heaven (and that other place) knows I'm no Frank Sinatra. And once again, I enlisted the services of the Men In Drag International (MIDI) band. What can I say? It's a DEMO.
Lyrics
FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Facing west from California's shores,
Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,
Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;
For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,
From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,
Long having wander'd since, round the earth having wander'd,
Now I face home again, very pleas'd and joyous,
(But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?)