The Old Swimmin' Hole

instrumentation: children's choir (SSA voices), piano

The excerpt from the poem that I have set is as follows:

“Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! whare the crick so still and deep

Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,

And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below Sounded like the laugh of something we onc't ust to know Before we could remember anything but the eyes

Of the angels lookin' out as we left Paradise;

But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,

And it's hard to part ferever with the old swimmin'-hole.

Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! In the happy days of yore,

When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,

Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide

That gazed back at me so gay and glorified,

It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress

My shadder smilin' up at me with sich tenderness.

But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,

And it's hard to part ferever with the old swimmin'-hole.

year composed: 2024 | 3 minutes

I composed “The Old Swimmin’ Hole” for the Phoenix Boys Choir’s 2024 New Works Rising composition competition. The competition’s thematic prompt was “True North.” I understand this to refer to something that provides guidance and grounding for an individual, something familiar and comforting to them.

The poem I chose to set is James Whitcomb Riley’s “The Old Swimmin’-Hole,” which my elementary school librarian read to me and my class years ago. I remember fondly how she introduced me to poetry with an enthusiasm that I now have for it. When I think of her, I am reminded of all the people who made me who I am today. This includes not only my elementary school librarian, but family, friends, teachers, and neighbors. Remembering that who I am is a product of people who care about me is a grounding thought. It comforts me to know that those people exist and that I can be one of those people for someone else, too.

Riley’s poem fits the theme especially well, as the speaker reflects on a swimming hole from their childhood that holds a special place in their memory. It seems to guide them towards the innocence and simplicity of life that they had as a child. While the speaker seems sad that those days are behind them, the very memory of this swimming hole consoles them.

What’s more is that James Whitcomb Riley and I are both from Indiana. While the Hoosier dialect is different today than it was in Riley’s day, I feel connected to his writing and how it causes me to remember my roots.