Deux chansons d'amour (1996)

I was drawn to these poems because of their imagery and sensuality, and I have attempted to reflect these qualities in the music. The texts are taken from the collection Causer L’Amour, published in 1992 by Editions Saint–Germain–des–Prés, Paris.

I
ton sommeil est un oubli
plus profond qui attend
le soleil sans expectative,
héritière d'un corps
qui pense demain dans le moment,
toi joie moléculaire
comme bulles de savon
va d'où elle vient,
rêve de fenêtres
quand la mer ancestrale
baye au corail.

II
La chambre variations de brume
l'odeur de douze nuits douze
notes d'été dans l'arène de la lune
fenêtre ouverte toi enveloppée
de la dentelle où la nocturne ajoure
ton <<odalisque>> comme des glacons
d'araignée dans la toile qui nous suspend
à la fragile fresque du temps.
L'oubli va et vient dans le bonheur.

J.R. Léveillé, from Causer L'Amour, ©1992, Éditions Saint–Germain–Des–Prés, 17, rue des Grands–-Augustins — 75006 Paris. Used by permission.

Poet Roger Léveillé writes:

"These poems are a celebration of life. They are evidently love poems, part of an ensemble of sensual and spiritual delights (the two are not exclusive; au contraire!). They are an active song, stemming from and participating in the same state of grace from which the feelings and events they reflect arose.

They and the ensemble they are excerpted from are structured into a kind of archeology of life wherein the most mundane object seems interconnected with the most cosmic event. And though these are, in essence, poems of the infinite and the eternal (to use grand words), they are also simply poems of pleasure, for the absolute can only be perceived, felt or sensed through individual experience. This is the great oxymoron of the universe."

This work was commissioned by the Eckhardt–Gramatté Foundation for the 1996 Eckhardt–Gramatté Competition. The commission was made possible with financial assistance from the Canada Council and the Manitoba Arts Council.

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