Now this is an appreciation of beauty I can get behind.

And no, I’m not just saying this because I know lyricist Mark Belletini is reading… honest. I simply love the connection he makes between the beauty of the earth and the beauty of our own creativity, that we are all a part of creation and we are all creators.

The arching sky of morning glows like frescoes high in vaulted rows.
The ragged hills of greening spring like chorus masters bid us sing.

The colors of our contoured land no artist born could hue as grand,
but contours of the human heart sole groundings are for every art!

Whenever sounds the sacred sigh beneath this gable of the sky,
the forms of art and spirit blend, by craft and morn our hearts transcend.

Set to the Tallis Canon, it’s an easy piece to sing; and I find it sounds more like bells than voices when sung with care. It’s harder to sing a round with multiple verses, but I imagine it must sound lush and gorgeous done that way.

I’ve not much more to say – we’re on the penultimate day of Goldmine Youth Leadership School, and my energy is loooowww. My spirits are high (we have amazing youth) but I am more like a three-toed tree sloth than a human today, moving veeeeery slooooowly from moment to moment. I even sang this more slowly than usual, but perhaps that let me linger over the poetry.

Anyway. I like this a lot and wish I remembered to use it more.