WHEN LIFE IS LIVED is created by composer Mary Ehlinger on a text by her brother, Ralph Ehlinger and premiered by the Dudley Birder Chorale, Green Bay, Wisconsin in 2007. SATB Choir and Piano. Duration: 4:43

TEXT:

When life is lived for beauty, forever is a day.

There’s never a tomorrow when beauty goes away.

When life is lived for seeing and never turns its gaze

The world spreads out beyond the sky in ever endless days.

When life is lived for singing, then hearts and souls unite

In magic sound to paint the day and decorate the night.

When life is lived for playing, then all the world’s a stage

Where beauty, sight and song reach out from age to age.

A life that’s lived for showing through beauty, song and art,

The way to see the things that lie deep in the human heart

And hold the ghost of wisdom in brief but bold embrace

Gives gifts beyond all measuring in life and love and grace.  

©2006  Ralph Ehlinger (API)