I am being lulled by the sound of waves swelling to and fro, the ground weightless and floating beneath me. I wait for my beloved, keeping the fire burning for him to see. In the distance, I am his lighthouse. . .the fire that will bring him home to me.



Forgive me, I am waxing poetic at the moment and writing the equivalent of literary gibberish. After spending a late evening waiting for Rein to come home from another long and difficult day at work, I couldn't help but be moved to tears by the song playing on my computer, Hero and Leander. It is a wondrous song, written and sung by Adam Guettel and inspired by the poignant story of mythical lovers Hero and Leander.

Guettel is musical theater royalty, the son of Mary Rogers and grandson of no less than Richard Rogers (best known as one half of the brilliant writing team Rogers and Hart, and eventually Rogers and Hammerstein). With DNA like that, how could he miss? Well he didn't, and he has already won a Tony for scoring "The Light in the Piazza".

He should have won something besides my heart for writing this. Here are the lyrics, but I wish you could hear what I'm hearing. A haunting melody, a plaintive piano solo, and orchestral swells meant to evoke the passionate crashing and ebbing of the tide, or the sighs of two lovers with an entire ocean between them. Ahhhh. . .I am transported to distant stars.


Could I be Leander?
On a wave am I borne?
Borne to a new home
Across this lonely sea.

Could you be my Hero,
Heart afire?
My lighthouse on the shoreline
Could you be that to me?

Oh, I need you
I need the rise and fall of your voice.
Oh, I love you
And now I have a love to rejoice.
Hero and Leander,
How your passion is brave,
Even if I drown here
Inside this wave.
My lighthouse on the shoreline
My passion on this lonely sea.
My loving you was meant to be.

Oh. . .

Oh now, could you be that to me?
Oh, I need you
I need the rise and fall of your voice.
Oh, I love you
And now I have a love to rejoice.
Hero and Leander,
How your passion is brave
Even I drown here
Inside this wave.
My lighthouse on the shoreline
My passion on this lonely sea.
My loving you was meant,
Was meant to be.