Song with orchestral background. See lyrics for the poem it is based on.
I wrote this poem some time in college, either sophomore or junior year -- during the Cold War and the Vietnam War. The music was written in the late 80s, except for the trumpet part which I added now as part of the orchestration.
When will we meet again,
If the banshee sirens wail,
For their angry mourning never lies
And their prophets never fail,
What time or place can ever be
For the sweet world of desire
If the banshee sirens herald the rain
Of the all consuming fire.
When will we dream again,
If the banshees scream their dirge
And the blazing mushrooms sear the land,
And the fires swell and surge,
And the world of all our knowledge
Is melted in to glass,
A mirror for our illusions,
And a seal to our past.
And if the banshees do not wail
Then surely i must go
A way to some sad distant land
Where the banshee bugles blow.
From the shattered world of love,
To the acrid world of hate,
Compelled to take a pointless stand
By an aimless whim of fate.
When will we love again
If the banshee siren screams,
For the wailing of its mourning
Is the dirge of all our dreams,
And the passion of its weeping
Is a mist of soft red rust,
And the sorrow of its sleeping
Is a swirl of sterile dust