It’s a quiet evening and I’ve been breaking down boxes stuffed in the closet for the past year. Mostly boxes from Amazon.com that I’ve kept in case they were needed to ship items home. I’ve been putting things together getting ready to pack-out. I’ll be vacating my dorm room on Friday and moving into billeting. I’ve just nine more days until I depart Korea and reunite with my wife.
I’m feeling a little melancholy this evening. The clinic had a farewell luncheon for me today and they put together a nice slideshow of the events and people of the past year. They gave me some nice gifts and said some nice words. My Korean friends from the ROKAF clinic were there as well. I’ll miss them.
Tonight I’m listening to Rusalka’s “Mesícku na nebi hlubokém” (Song To The Moon) by Antonín Dvorák. A rusalka is a water spirit of Slavic mythology, usually inhabiting a lake or river and happens to be the name of the nymph in the opera of the same name. This opera was first performed in Prague on 31 March 1901 and is based on a Czech fairytale. It’s basically the story of “The Little Mermaid” (as in the story by Hans Christian Anderson and Disney’s animated movie), but like most opera, doesn’t end as well. As the opera opens, the good-natured old Spirit of the Lake, Jezibab, is enjoying the singing of the Wood Nymphs, when his daughter, Rusalka, approaches him sadly. She tells him that she has fallen in love with a handsome young prince and wishes to become human in order to know the bliss of union with him. Deeply saddened, the Spirit of the Lake consents to her request, and leaves. All alone, Rusalka sings this beautiful aria, confiding in the moon the secrets of her longing…
O, moon high up in the deep, deep sky,
your light sees far away regions,
you travel round the wide, wide world
peering into human dwellings.
O, moon stand for a while,
tell me, ah, tell me where is my lover!
Tell him, please, silvery moon in the sky,
that I am hugging him firmly,
that he should at least a while
remember me in his dreams.
Light up his far away place,
tell him, ah, tell him who is waiting here!
If he is dreaming about me,
may this remembrance awake him!
O, moon, don’t disappear, don’t disappear!
The rendition I’m listening to is sung by soprano Gabriela Benackova and its absolutely beautiful. This song always leaves me feeling a bit sad, especially being away from the one I long for so very much.
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