Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Several years ago, I had the pleasure and indeed, the honor, of being a part of the Knoxville Chamber Chorale.  One memorable and beautiful piece we sang was composed by contemporary composer Eric Whitacre.  The title of the piece was Sleep.  Performing this in concert left a lasting impression.

Originally set to the text of the Robert Frost’ poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, copyright issues brought by the Frost estate prevented the piece from being published.  Charles Anthony Silvestri wrote new text for Whitacre’s music taken from the last stanza of Frost’ poem.  See below to read the complete text.

To hear a choir, click here:  Sleep by Eric Whitacre.

He’s always been a light sleeper, but these days, George is wakeful many nights.  Parkinson’s, anxiety, and bodily aches and pains prevent sleep from comforting him.  By association, my sleep is interrupted as well.  Sometimes he has nightmares; even hallucinations (thankfully, those have been infrequently lately).

On the other hand, I have always (until recently) been a sound sleeper.  Listening to music, reading, or meditating has been helpful for me to wind down and relax to a point where I can sleep.  However, that isn’t happening for me now.

I wish George, with my help, could find just the thing that would turn off the anxieties of his mind, his racing thoughts, and physical tremors.  So far, we have not found the magic pill to do that.  He recently started taking a new medication, Clonazepam, which is supposed to help him.  We’ll see if it works.

We know that early morning exercise can aid with sleep, but George’s mobility challenges make that harder and harder to achieve.

Nothing is so restorative as deep, REM sleep.  Sleep brings peace.  Sleep is Heavenly.

We pray for sleep.

Sleep – Lyrics by Charles Anthony Silvestri