SATB a cappella

Text by Robert Chilton

TO ———

Softly fades the golden sunlight

From the valley and the hill;

Softly dies the wind of Summer—

All the leaves are still;

And the dusky twilight, floating

From the sunset’s purple bars,

Sows the boundless field of heaven

Thick with golden stars.

Thus, whene’er I leave thee, dearest,

Fades from me the joyous light

That, when in thy charmed presence,

Makes my soul so bright.

Thus, too, mem’ry, like the twilight,

Brings a holy calm to me,

Sowing o’er my spirit’s darkness

Star-bright thoughts of thee.

Poem by Robert Chilton (1 861 -1 947)

n.b.

” holy” was changed to ” f ully” by the comp oser

“Softly Fades the Golden Sunlight” is a meditation on light, and how love persists through

absence. The poem acknowledges loss of immediate presence (sunset), but finds solace in

memory (twilight), and also plants sustaining points of light (stars/thoughts).The final image

leaves us not in darkness, but in a sky quietly filled with constellations; suggesting that love,

once experienced, permanently alters our landscape.

C

ommissioned by Maureen Clark and Stewart Cruikshank for Cantabile Chamber

Singers, Cheryll Chung, Artistic Director, in celebration of their 20th season May 2026