Performed by Val Cole
The Shepherd’s Song by Bruce Waddell
I cannot cross
It is not water but language that divides us
French is not my tongue
Canteloube’s Occitan beyond me
The composer stands his ground
He alone can make this work.
From the first bar I am lost to the world
For six minutes twenty seven seconds
On the soaring voice
Of Frederica Von Stade
Carried by her operatic tongue
I understand the idyllic the ancient shepherd lived
Floating on air the maiden’s warning
Reaches the far side of the river
And breaks the shepherd’s isolation
No longer alone with his sheep,
In love
With the melody lightly hovering over the meadow
WILDsound Festival 