Stars, Stones, Water

Originally written as a present from Marisha Chamberlain for my 60th birthday, the text has been modified with her approval and now celebrates 50 wonderful years of the Minnesota Boychoir.

Stars, Stones, Water

Beneath the stars, the timeless
stars, fifty years
could be just one breath,
But music argues otherwise,
music, which bids us
to listen and listen, while cares
and quarrels
and even opinions dispel.
[Beneath the stars, music.]

Below the great stones, the implacable
stones, fifty years might be a handful
of pebbles, except for music,
its pressure, its heat,
which brings us back
to molten beginnings:
a heap of gems.
[Below the stones, music.]

Upon the water, the ancient
water, fifty years could be merely
a ripple, except for the way
the music rolls
with and also against the current,
and dives and widens and deepens
and does not end.
[Upon the water, music.]

–Marisha Chamberlain