Song Meaning
Osvaldo Golijov's setting of Emily Dickinson's "How Slow the Wind" is less a straightforward song than a concentrated emotional atmosphere. Golijov, known for his sophisticated and deeply felt compositions, amplifies the poem's inherent tension between earthly constraint and transcendent yearning. The opening lines establish a sense of delayed arrival, a world moving at a glacial pace. "How slow the Wind—/How slow the Sea—/How late their Fathers be!" isn't merely descriptive; it’s a lament for something fundamental missing or agonizingly delayed, perhaps a connection to origins or a spiritual fulfillment. The 'Fathers' could be interpreted as ancestors, deities, or simply the source of being.
The question "Is it too late to touch you, Dear?" abruptly shifts the focus from cosmic time to intimate, personal connection. This line is the crux of the song's emotional weight. The preceding sense of vast, indifferent time suddenly collides with the urgency of human touch. It speaks to the anxiety of missed opportunities and the fear that time itself has eroded the possibility of intimacy. The use of "Dear" is both tender and fraught, suggesting a relationship already burdened by the weight of this temporal and perhaps emotional distance.
The final lines expand the scope of love beyond the merely physical or earthly. "We this moment knew—/Love Marine and Love terrene—/Love celestial too—" suggests an awakening to the multifaceted nature of love, encompassing the earthly, the oceanic depths, and the spiritual heights. Golijov's musical interpretation likely underscores this expansion, perhaps using soaring melodies or harmonies to evoke the "celestial" dimension. Ultimately, the song meaning resides in this juxtaposition: the agonizing slowness of the world versus the fleeting, precious nature of love in all its forms. It's a miniature meditation on time, loss, and the enduring human need for connection, rendered with Dickinson's characteristic precision and Golijov's emotional intensity.
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