Three Songs from Athena

Wash my hair, mother,
this last time, the weight
of it in your hands,
how the light lifts it up.

Dry my hair, mother,
and comb it out,
pulling the morning's
warmth to the ends.

Mother, braid my hair,
your quick fingers turning
and turning beauty
into beauty, this last time.

-Athena Kildegaard
Text commissioned by the composer

Performers: Shruthi Rajasekar (soprano), Jessica Arnold (piano). Recorded live by Andrés Villalta in Taplin Auditorium, May 2018

Three Songs From Athena: I. Morning Song (2018)

Sun in your tomatoes,
wind in the yellow lilies,
bees secure their futures,
how does the earth turn
but by gravity?

How certain I am
of loving you, papa,
and how certain,
like the bee, of leaving.

No, what do I know
of bees' desires?
What do I know of wind?
Except it carries me
out the narrow door,
defying gravity,
defying gravity.

-Athena Kildegaard
Text commissioned by the composer

Performers: Shruthi Rajasekar (soprano), Jessica Arnold (piano). Recorded live by Andrés Villalta in Taplin Auditorium, May 2018

Three Songs From Athena: II. Leaving Home (2018)

For Sue who gave me seashells
with their echoes

For Diane and your violin--
for those lazy afternoons of arpeggios

For June whose eye for warblers
taught me patterns
and surprise

For Maeve with your lullabies

For Barb and Liz and Nancy--
how we steamed clams
and sliced fennel tissue thin
and fed a dozen friends

For Tanya, how you let me call
at two or three and made me bread
with cherry jam and rubbed my feet

and Margaret, so much my sister
though you weren't

How else could I get by?
How else could I get by?

-Athena Kildegaard
Text commissioned by the composer 

Performers: Shruthi Rajasekar (soprano), Jessica Arnold (piano). Recorded live by Andrés Villalta in Taplin Auditorium, May 2018

Three Songs From Athena: III. Friends (2018)

Indian-American composer & vocalist. Please visit my website (www.shruthirajasekar.com) and contact me at shruthirmusic@gmail.com