Humanity Divine

original text by Ryan Jesperson

 

1. POSSESSION

A cool heavenly breeze took possession of him. Isa
A whisper of wind, a thought, a salty taste in his mouth
A path sent to him of ancient voices. He sleeps, tossing, restless
When the heavens burst asunder and the night departs…
He hears the whispers, “your body is weak, broken.”
His life is pain. He must taste death for everyone.
Suddenly a fear spears him, “Isa…” To live, love, leave, to die!
In a world of violent, vicious night, a wish, a desire, “Abandon all your hope, I’m not your answer.”
To be free of the struggling truth, a lie. The air had become dense, restless.

 

2. FRIGHT

The voice rose to leave, his hair hung hiding two tired eyes. She reached for his wrist. “Are you leaving?”
How he wants to stay, no, he must leave her, but why?
In the hereafter they shall have the chastisement of fire.
She moans, she sighs, and lies in bed with her lies, he wants her to touch him.
She purrs softly in the dark, watching him. “Isa, stay with me tonight.”
He hesitates to touch her hair, her whole body trembles.
A whisper, “Mary.” He hears his own voice and retreats.
Wind whispers soft, his footsteps echo, Mary lies there frozen.

 

3. ALONE

Fasting alone in the barren desert. “Why do you need me? Leave me alone. Alone, alone, alone.”
His hands were shaking rampant, “Isa”.
“He is killing me, digging his hands into my head, my heart, my loins. Why does he want me, why? What is there I can do? I am not he, No. Why? Don’t I deserve to live among men, to live a mortal life, married? A life of pride? He wants me, says I must rise up and speak, but fear has frozen my tongue.”
He cries, he weeps, hating everything he knew must come.

 

4. TRUTH

Restless, was his sleep. Dark were the eyes staring out of the crowd.
“Crucify him, crucify him.”
“Leave me alone, I will not lead. Doubt is my guide. I am lust, I am weak, unkind. My life is not so pure. I don’t have the courage.”
Would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth?
“And what if I fail? Is it fear that is stalking me? Must humanity suffer if I can’t set them free?”
The gathering crowd closed in, he felt weak, as if he was out of breath. He screamed at them, “Leave me alone.”
Of the twelve that followed, only one could see past his terror.
“By the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.”

5. BELOVED

“Please don’t be shy, beloved. My love for you is strong and thicker than old growth in the ground.”
“My body is willing but my spirit is weak. Weak like the new frost.”
“Come to me. Stay near my heart, your rough hands keep me warm.”
He threw her on the ground and lay beside. Her heart burns forbidden lust.
“Stay near me, touch me.”
With his hands he stroked her long dark hair.
The sun sets, his heart felt lighter. A breeze blew.
His life was simple, purposeful, wonderful. She reached out and covered up their bodies.
Later, in the moonless night Mary purred, resting on his naked chest.

 

6. TRAITOR

Screaming pierced the night. “Arise,” the shadowy serpent replied. “Traitor.”
Through steely slit eyes Judas stared at his Christ.
“You, you left us, condemned us. Traitor, deserter.”
“Traitor, deserter,” he bellowed again. “Your place was on the cross. That’s where the God of Israel put you to fight. I have done my part. I have given you all that you asked. I had to be strong when you were weak. You went and hid in her skirt and left us to suffer. Coward.”
All at once Jesus burst into sobs.
“Yes, I’m a traitor and I’ve hidden from my path. I’ve failed. At the cross I took flight. Temptation, yes, I should have been crucified, but I lost courage and fled.”

 

7. TEMPTATION

His eyes opened, suddenly. All that life was but a dream. She was gone. He was alone.
“Isa”
It is hard to leave the world, but he must. Hard to live in the world.
A thought still tempted him to be free, a lie to believe. To live without fear, only her, but he can’t, he’s the author of salvation. Humanity made perfect through pain.
He uttered a triumphant cry. “It is accomplished.”
And it was as though he had said, “everything had begun.”

BACK TO THE HUMANITY DIVINE PROGRAM NOTES

Copyright© 2011 Ryan Jesperson

Fall, 2012: Joseph Abad will premiere a new Saxophone Sonata.

Fall, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

Spring-Summer, 2012: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be performed in San Francisco, CA.

Spring, 2012: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO.

Spring, 2012: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX.

Spring, 2012: BA(da)SS will be performed by Ryan Ford in West Hartford, CT.

Spring, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

Spring, 2012: Not Death, but Love will be premiered by Ineo Saxophone Quartet.

Spring, 2012: David Tayloe will perform A Page Out of Zen in CT.

May, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT.

April, 2012: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

April, 2012: David Tayloe will premiere A Page Out of Zen in NY.

Feb. 17th, 2012: The 016 Ensemble will be perform Romanza for Alto Saxophone and Violin in Manchester, CT.

Dec. 3rd, 2011: Ryan defends his dessertation, Songs from Behind the Curtain at UMKC.

July 17th, 21st, 24th, 2011: Music Faculty from the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will perform ...and those seven dwarfs in a series of concerts in Western Maine.

June 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 2011:Orphée Redux will be performed by Rhymes With Opera on their East Coast Tour (NYC, Baltimore, Hartford, Boston).

June 12th, 2011:Selection from Songs from Behind the Curtain will be performed at the John Duffy Composers Institute in Norfolk, VA.

May 13th, 2011: The Ineo Quartet will perform the 1st movement of Not Death, but Love on their Fischoff Competition program in South Bend, Indiana.

March 19th, 2011: The Ineo Saxophone Quartet will perform ...and love is fire... from Not Death, but Love at the NASA conference in West Point, NY.

Feb. 25th, 2011: I. Jest will be premiered by Robert Olson and the UMKC Orchestra in Kansas City, MO.

Feb. 14th, 2011: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed at the Nebraska at Kearney New Music Festival.

EVENT HISTORY