What Will You Do, God, When I Die? (live)

*Performed live from the For the Sake of a Single Poem concert at the Dakota, Minneapolis, MN, March 16, 2009

Rilke

I was first introduced to the poetry of one of Germany's most famous poets, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), by Benedictine monks who taught me at St. John's University in Collegeville, MN. I was immediately enraptured by Rilke's sense of place, relationship, and spirituality. Years later, that evolved into a desire to set a number of his poems to music, and create some art song within a jazz idiom.

For the Sake of a Single Poem premiered at the Dakota Jazz Club, downtown Minneapolis, March 13, 2009, with 13 Rile poems I had set to music. I invited Fr. Mark Thamert, OSB, my former German prof, to be our narrator for the evening, and here is what he had to say about this particular poem:

"Rilke loved God, and he talked to God very directly at the beginning of his life as a young monk- that voice he used in his early poetry-. In this poem, he addresses God 'what are you gonna do when I die? I'm really afraid for you. You created us, but...you need us, too.' This is essential, really authentic Rilke, breaking the boundaries of what religion is all about. Even though the word 'God' was erased from his vocabulary as he moved in with Rodin in Paris, and on to his other poetry, he never repudiated these early poems. He always loved them: the voice of the monk within him.

You can picture the young monk, praying to God...”

St. Nich

What will you do, God, when I die?
I am your vessel
I, your drink
I, your garment
I, your craft
Without me, what will you do?
What reason have you?

Without me, you'll have no home
where innocent words await you.
I, velvet slipper that falls from your foot
the cloak dropping from your shoulder.

Your gaze, which I welcome now
as it warms my cheek
will search for me, hour after hour
and lie at sunset, spent
on an empty beach
among unfamiliar stones
what will you do?
I am afraid.

Rilke