My Heart is Like a Singing Bird

I feel Christina Rossetti’s poem exudes happiness and joy in a simple almost “over the top” way -something that we need in a world with many conflicts and challenges.

Rossetti makes use of the images of a songbird, a fruit-laden apple-tree,  and a rainbow for the expression of the depth of her love.  

Written in 1857, the poem was first published in the April 1861 in an issue of ‘Macmillan’s Magazine’, a popular British monthly periodical. In 1862 the poem was included in Rossetti’s first full-published collection: ‘Goblin Market and Other Poems’. 

While composing the music I imagined a delicate “folk-like” texture, almost a picking of a classical guitar or plucking of a harp, with the melody weaving through subtle colours of “dn” (“duhn”-go directly to the “n” for a gentle percussive effect), “tum” (pronounced “toohm”-go directly to the “m”).  

Gently sing these throughout and always allow  the melody to be heard in a lilting, floating, free manner.