Post Script from Italy

Come and study Italian with me,
And then I'll put to sea
All lesser concerns, and inscribe
These words - so accurate a depiction
Of the relationship of your eyes
To my heart - to you on a
Musical score which will touch your
Open heart:

Io parto, amati lumi,
rimirat'il dolor della partita
in queste fronte pallid'e smarrita.

Io parto, occhi sereni,
fra contanto martir non mi negate
un guardo, non d'amor, ma di pietate.

Io part', o stelle, o soli,
occhi numi del cor ch'in terr'adoro
io parto, io parto, ahi! non più part', io moro.

Sospir, tormenti e doglie
fidi compagni miei, querele e pianti,
venit', io parto, addio diletti e canti.

Addio rise, addio gioie,
addio candidi giorini e felici ore,
restate seco in compagna d'amore.

Happy Birthday, Rachel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0KlAHd7dGI&feature=related

Put to this in another tab and then come back and read this post
while you listen.

It's Strauss's Ein Heldenleben, and I heard this section from about
2:15 on in the Fritz Reiner CSO recording tonight on Exploring Music,
and it made me think of you, because I know you like it. (Of
course I was already thinking of you and thinking of your birthday.)
Still hearing it, I hoped you were listening, and we were enjoying it
together. You are a heroine to me, because you have opened your
life to beauty and have refused to just settle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT3Q_BIIRJM&feature=related

Happy Birthday, Rachel, I love you.
I could never give you anything that compares
with the joy and new life you have given me.