"Sempervirens"
Performed by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra with Schola Cantorum of San Francisco on June 9, 2006.
Sempervirens, ancient tree, great tree,
you don’t have to be heard.
You do not have to wonder if your song
will be heard in a hundred years, remembered,
You only have to let your long and sturdy branches
sway with the wind without resisting.
Tell me of your past and I will tell of mine.
Sempervirens, your life flows on, always living.
The dove and the white owl of the night
find shelter in your shadows,
over your mountains and your valleys,
soar the redtail and the eagle.
I wonder if human voices
will be singing high again?
No matter what I say, no matter what I do,
your beauty plants itself inside my memory;
soothes me in a pure, sweet voice.
Now and forever, my song remains whole
in your always living heart.
*Sempervirens literally means “always green.” Sequoia sempervirens is the