The night is darkening round me (2019)

Duration: 3 minutes

Poet: Emily Brontê

Composition Notes: Written for Dr. Matthew Carey and the Chamber Choir at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in celebration of their performance at the 2020 Alabama Music Educators Association Conference

Program Note: Emily Brontë’s poem is found in the public domain and used freely with this distinction.

The night is darkening round me
Emily Brontë

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go,

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below me;
But nothing drear can move me;
I will not, cannot go