Australians, at least those who live or travel anywhere near the open dry spaces of this continent, know what thirst is all about. Indigenous plants and animals evolved to survive through hot summers and droughts. Aboriginal people were expert at finding water in dry creek beds, trees and grasses.
For Sooner or later in a long dry spell thirst will catch up with expert and novice alike. Elijah in the Old Testament story this week (1 Kings 19) must have felt it, as alone and fearful he fled from persecution far into the wilderness (that Jezebel must have been a real piece of work). Elijah finally came to the end of his tether, sat down under a broom tree — and even that was a ‘solitary’ broom tree — and wished for death. That’s what the psalmist has in mind at verse 1:
As the deer longs for following streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
Then follows the famous episode of the still small voice following earthquake, wind and fire. It is matched in the psalm by deep calling to deep in the thunder of cataracts; but after a day of God so demonstrating steadfast love:
… at night the song is with me (v.8)
The reading then flows smoothly on to Psalm 43, where we come across another familiar verse:
Send out our light and your truth, let them lead me; and let them bring me to the holy hill and to your dwelling (v.3)
Music
Psalm 42, especially the thirsty deers, seemed to capture the imagination of composers over the years. Mendelssohn and Luther did their own translations of the poem, and many settings exist. One of the earlier pieces (apart from early Gregorian chants in the Roman liturgy or counterparts in the Mozarbic and Gallic liturgies) crops up in a mass written by 15th century Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem. He calls this verse into service for times of bereavement, when surely the soul thirsts for comfort. This section is sparse, being for ‘superius and countertenor’ voices. It could be adapted, of course, but it’s not very suitable as the centrepiece for the singing of the psalm in the modern service. It’s also in Latin
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.
Incidentally, Elijah’s despairing cry is repeated in the incipit of a popular madrigal by Monteverdi from his Fourth Book of Madrigals for five voices of 1603, ‘Si ch’io vorrei morire’ (‘Yes, I’d like to die’).That’s where the parallel stops, though, as this is actually an erotic love song. It was recycled during the Counter-Reformation by re-texting with a religious message about the love of God. People would have recognised the tune and got the reference straight away. (Image; canto part book by Monteverdi, British Library)
For South Woden 
I see from the cantor’s worksheet in our library on Dropbox that we sang this psalm three years ago almost to the day, using a tone and refrain from the New Century Hymnal. The music is not included in the song sheet for copyright purposes but someone probably has a copy. There are several other good choices including in PFAS which we do have, and others listed in Singing from the Lectionary:
http://lectionarysong.blogspot.de/2016/05/songs-and-hymns-for-proper-7c-ordinary.html
Psalms in the South 