Rimini 1944: To Gain The Crest (Worthington) by Chronos Vocal Ensemble

Trent Worthington
Rimini 1944: To Gain The Crest
From "The Simplest Way: The Music of Trent Worthington" (2016)
Commissioned by Chronos Vocal Ensemble in 2015

Text: “A Canuck in Italy” – written by an unknown Canadian soldier while in action at Rimini, 1944

Death, gloating in its shroud, did cover me,
Tempting my tired soul to gain its rest.
“Rise from this wet and mud-bound sea,
What matters if you fall – to gain the crest?”

“Crawling, stumbling, blindly falling,
Groping for the top.
For what, you idiotic fool? Does rest deter you not?
Is not this pain, the price that greed has wrought?
Why struggle on to lose that which you sought?”

Then, light! Oh, brilliant dazzling beam!
You spectrum of a soldier’s dream,
Bursting forth to free my soul,
Through closed, pink lids I saw my goal.

Excelling all in simplicity
Stood Christ on a cross -- humanity.