Friday, May 8, 2009

Song for Penn State Law Class of 2009


When it first opened, critics panned the musical Wicked (music and lyrics by Steven Schwartz and book by Winnie Holtzman). The musical is based on a novel by Gregory Maguire. The story starts before Dorothy arrived in the Land of Oz and explains how two girls became Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good. Theatre critics called the plot "muddled" and the sound in New York's Gershwin Theater "smearing." No matter. Audiences loved it.

This song is the witches' farewell to each other after a long and sometimes difficult journey together. To the Dickinson School of Law Class of 2009 from me in thanksgiving for the blessing of each other:

For Good

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood,
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good

And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore.

Like a comet pulled from orbit as it
Passes a sun, like
A stream that meets a boulder, half-way
Through the wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better.

Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Normally the discussions following these posts are intellectual. I'll break that rule and just say:

Awww.... :-)

Alison M. Kilmartin said...

It was a wild ride and one that I will never forget and have been forever changed by. You played a role in that transformation Dean Reilly, and to you I say Thank You!

Josh Auriemma said...

I love this musical so much (along with Adena Menzel) that I went to see it on Broadway even though my tickets were absolute back row, behind a post.

Great choice.