Possession by Ethel Smyth | Gracyn Blu, Mezzo-Soprano

This just may genuinely be my favorite piece to sing of all time. I wish I could go back in time and meet Ethel Smyth, stand beside her in the fight for women's rights, discuss queer identity, and ask her about this poem, which I understand and relate to so, so deeply. I hope everyone soon discovers the amazing Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944): queer composer, brave suffragette, and one of ONLY TWO women TO THIS DAY to have her opera staged at the met. Words and Music by Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) Gracyn Blu, mezzo-soprano Michelle Do, piano Sound recording engineer: Matthew Ian Welch Cinematographer: Matthew Ian Welch Editor: Gracyn Blu Lyrics: There bloomed at my cottage door, A rose with a heart scented sweet; O so lovely and fair that I plucked it one day, Laid it over my own heart’s swift beat; In a moment its petals were shed, Just a tiny white mound at my feet. There flew through my casement low, A linnet that richly could sing; Sang so thrillingly sweet, I could not let it go, But must cage it the wild happy thing; But it pined the cage I had made, Not a note to my chamber would bring. There came to my lonely soul, The friend I had waited for long; And the deep chilly silence lay stricken and dead, Pierced to death by our love and our song, And I thought of the bird and the flow’r And my soul in its knowledge grew strong. Go out when thou wilt, O friend, Sing thy song, roam the world glad and free; By the holding I lose, by the giving I gain, And the gods cannot take thee from me. For a song and a scent on the wind, Shall drift in thro’ the doorway from thee. By the holding I lose… By the giving I gain.