When I was a child (Benavides/Bregman) Score for mezzo-soprano & violin
When I was a child (Benavides/Bregman) Score for mezzo-soprano & violin
Text by: Erin Bregman https://erinbregman.com/
Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano/soprano, violin
Duration: 6:45
Originally commissioned by The Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and Duo Cortona
Performed by: Duo Cortona, Del Mar International Composer’s Symposium
When I was a child
I longed to be a grown up
Wise,
Knowing all the answers.
So I put on my parents’ clothes,
Shirt,
Shoes,
Coat,
Hat.
Ran into the kitchen
And said:
Look! Look!
I’m a grown up!
No,
They said.
Not yet,
They said.
Go to bed.
Oh, to be a grown up.
Wise, I wanted all the answers. So I read all my parents’ books:
Dickens,
Tolkien,
Austin,
Keats.
I ran to the kitchen and said:
Look! I’m done!
I’m a grown up!
No,
They said.
Not yet,
They said.
Get to bed.
What else,
To be a grown up?
Wise,
With all the answers?
I made lemonade and sold it:
Five,
Ten,
Fifteen,
Twenty.
I threw my bills
On the table and said:
There! Money!
I earned it.
That makes me a grown up.
Admit it!
No,
They said.
Not -
I don’t understand.
I dress like you now
read like you now
work like you now.
I’m a grown up.
Tell me the answers.
They were quiet.
Still.
A sad little smile
and I knew
I was the answer.
So I pulled up a chair
And took my place at the grown up table
My feet dangling far above the floor.
- Erin Bregman (April, 2018)
