Elegy for the Trees
Elegy for the Trees imagines our world without trees and without peace. These hypotheticals are explored in a contemplative atmosphere, wrestling with hopelessness and fear. Doubt evolves into defiant optimism—we cannot give up on our hopes for peace and balance, no matter how naive they may seem amid the complex challenges we face. The work concludes with a return to the pensive mood of the opening, now tinged with bittersweetness in its questioning.
The recording featured on this page is from a performance by Renova New Music Ensemble at a CUÂ Boulder SoundWorks concert.
For questions about purchasing and performing this piece, please contact Blake directly using the contact form.
Elegy for the Trees
Imagine there were no trees.
What would life be like?
Imagine you and me laying where a tree should be.
Looking up at the sky, you and I, we would cry—
say “goodbye” to the trees.
Imagine there was no peace.
Is that what life is like?
No, that cannot be.
We cannot war our world away.
There must be peace for you and me.
Is it naive for you and me, beneath the trees in gentle breeze,
to wish for peace and simple ease the world to see?
What would it take?
Imagine we tend the soil.
What shining sentinels we would grow!
Why don’t we grow?
We’ll grow.
Will we grow?