Fantasia | for accompanied soprano | 4’00”
Fantasization
To me
Is a flame.
I stare into the depths of it.
I imagine myself in another world.
Walking,
Running,
Enjoying everything.
The candle burning down
Is my life.
I watch my life
With joy,
Imagining truth.
Then it burns out
And I am dead,
In my imaginary world.
There is no other world
Except where I live.
I’ll try to make it better.
--Derrill Kocurek (1950-1986)
Copyright © 1972, Used with permission.
Fantasia
THE POET
Derrill G. Kocurek (November 4th, 1950 – January 24th, 1986)
Just like any other high school senior, Derrill Kocurek was carefree and filled with dreams, enjoying days of running on the beach and playing ball with his friends. This was the case until shortly before his 18th birthday, when Derrill was involved in a car crash which broke his neck, leaving him almost completely paralyzed. As a patient at the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, Derrill reluctantly agreed to finish his studies, earning credits at the hospital school to earn his high school diploma. While a student, he shared poems he had written with HISD Hospital Teacher, Kathryn H. Cox, who together with Dr. and Mrs. Austin L. Porterfield helped publish a collection of his works in a book entitled Yet I love Life.