At the end of winter, on a beautifully
clear day, our family of three trudged past melting snowdrifts
towards Mt Herbert (920 m), which is about as high as Bethlehem.
On reaching the top, our son Francis, then aged five, became ecstatic,
whirling and bouncing around the tussocks. As he jumped, I saw
the light 'dancing' inside his strawberry blond hair. Then I looked
down at the tussocks, knowing that the outer grasses gleamed like
long fair hair, but saw for the first time that the light was
also dancing underneath in the mousy-coloured 'undercut', in the
unprepossessing darkness. I immediately thought of the Light dancing,
then Francis, then Jesus, then the little boy playing at Bethlehem.
I continued writing this poem in my head as we returned to the
family bach (holiday home) at Purau Bay on Banks Peninsula.
I woke up very early the next morning and wrote the remaining
stanzas as verses of a hymn, thinking of some of the outstanding
painters like William Sutton (1917-2000), Doris Lusk (1916-1990),
and Rita Angus (1908-1970) who have powerfully evoked the Canterbury
landscape. In my writing, images from nature provide metaphors
of God's action in the world, as in sacred scripture. Having recently
attended a workshop on Celtic Spirituality by the well-known New
Zealand hymn writer, Colin Gibson, I asked him if my work had
potential. He kindly produced a minuet setting.
Sensing the energy of the lyrics, my husband, Bill Ahlers, started
to write a highly syncopated melody. We then moved back and forth
between rhythms of the music and the stresses of the text, as
is required in strophic writing. Our friend, the harpsichordist
Peter Low, wrote an accompaniment, which helps the hymn to dance,
without being too complex to be teachable to most congregations.
The refrain has dissonant harmonies and ends on a very energetic
chord.
The accompaniment is marked non-legato. If it is played on the
organ, the woodblock part will help the congregation sing the
rhythms. Colin Gibson finds Tussocks Dancing 'very impressive'. |
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