Of the Earth - March 3, 2024 program

“Quality attracts — and for lovers of fine choral music, Spiritus Chamber Choir has come to mean refinement, poise and rich expression in choral singing.”

— Calgary Herald

Spiritus Chamber Choir is an internationally award-winning amateur choir founded in 1995, based in Calgary, Canada. Spiritus has been recognized both nationally and internationally for its high-quality performances, musicianship, and unique collaborations. The choir is committed to excellence in choral music, performing for music lovers in Calgary and surrounding areas.

Spiritus has produced five recordings to date. Seven Last Words from the Cross, All the Stars Looked Down, and Vedel: Choir Concertos Nos. 1-12 & Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom are available online on Apple Music, Spotify, and other major streaming platforms.

CHORISTERS

SOPRANO

Dawn Coulter

Kathryn Fraser

Anne Heinemeyer

Joanna Henry

Amanda Hillestad

Catherine Lippitt

Caitlyn O’Connor

Sheryl Reinhardt

Kim Reinhart

ALTO

Taylor Berry

Kathy Hanna

Bri Harvie

Anna-Marie Koszarycz

Sarah McLean

Julia Millen

Olena Simsek

Patti Vaillant

TENOR

Volodymyr Amiot

Michael De Los Santos

Boyd Hansen

Allan Morgan

Paul Newman

Ethan Taylor

David Thomas

Chris Visser

BASS

Kyle Canton

Joshua Field

Bryan Hryciw

Brady King

Colin Redekop

David Schey

Bob Serrano

Nathan Severson-Baker

ANDREA CIONA ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Andrea Ciona is a highly regarded conductor, performer, and educator. Artistic Director of the Spiritus Chamber Choir since 2022, Andrea brings vitality and passion to the stage. Andrea is the founding director of the Rocky Mountain Symphony Chorus and regularly performs with the Rocky Mountain Symphony. Currently on faculty at Mount Royal University Conservatory of Music, Andrea leads the Advanced Performance Program in Choral Conducting. Director of Choirs at Bishop Carroll High School since 2010, her ensembles have received national and international recognition. Previously, Andrea served on the faculty at Red Deer College School of Music and worked with Alberta Education on the Provincial Arts Education Curriculum Redesign. In demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator, Andrea works and collaborates with ensembles around the world, from Brazil to Indonesia, China to Germany.

Andrea holds degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary, and studied at Westminster Choir College, in Princeton. In her free time, Andrea loves travelling and exploring the world with her husband and two children.

COLIN REDEKOP ACCOMPANIST

Colin Redekop completed his undergraduate studies in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He holds the Master of Church Music degree from Southern Seminary (1999) and the Master of Music degree in organ performance from the University of Calgary (2011). Significant organ instructors include Boyd Jones, Richard Greig, and Neil Cockburn.

Awards and scholarships include the Winnipeg Bach Festival Trophy, the Lieutenant Governor’s Trophy of the Winnipeg Music Festival, the Cantos Music Foundation grant for organ studies, and grants from the Alberta government and the University of Calgary Faculty of Graduate Studies. Colin was also a prize winner in the 2009 Composer Competition of the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers.

An accomplished church musician, Colin has served congregations in Kentucky, Florida, Manitoba, and Calgary. He is presently an Assistant Organist at Christ Church Elbow Park. Colin has accompanied numerous Calgary ensembles, including the Calgary Girls Choir, the University of Calgary Chorus, the avant-garde choral theatre group Artio, and the award-winning choirs of Webber Academy. He is currently the accompanist of both the Spiritus Chamber Choir and the Calgary Renaissance Singers & Players.

BISHOP CARROLL CHOIRS

GUEST ARTIST

Imagine a school with no bells, no classes. Students learn what they want, when they want and how they want. This is Bishop Carroll High School. Canada’s flagship self-directed learning school has been on the cutting edge of educational pedagogy for over 50 years. A truly inspiring place to teach and learn, Bishop Carroll serves over 1200 students from around the city of Calgary. Known for its outstanding music program, Bishop Carroll provides musical opportunities for students of all levels, from those just beginning their music study, to those preparing to become professional musicians. Bishop Carroll High School has six award winning choral ensembles under the direction of Andrea Ciona, including two Vocal Jazz groups, an auditioned Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, Touring Choir, and Treble Choir. Choristers work with many world class clinicians and conductors, through an ongoing partnership with Mount Royal University. John Morgan, artistic director of Mount Royal Kantorei, has been the choral accompanist at Bishop Carroll for the past fourteen years, and also regularly coaches the groups as a choral clinician. Augustine Yates, a Bishop Carroll alumnus, accompanies the Vocal Jazz ensembles and Treble Choir.

Bishop Carroll Choral Ensembles regularly receive local, national and international recognition, including a First Place win at the Beijing International Music Festival. Featured performances have included joint performances with the Calgary Civic Symphony, the Kenyan Boys Choir, the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede, Mount Royal Kantorei Choir, Artio Choir, and a special Easter Sunday concert with the choir of Basilica di Sant’Alessio, in Rome.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Spiritus Chamber Choir would like to acknowledge that this concert is occurring on the territory of the Niitsitapi, or Blackfoot people, and the peoples of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta. We would like to recognize the Treaty 7 Nations who make their home on this land, including the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina, and the Ĩyãħé Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations. Spiritus rehearses and performs on land adjacent to where the Bow River meets the Elbow River, a place traditionally called Mohkínstsis, Wîcîspa, and Guts’ists’i. This land is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta. Spiritus is grateful to the people of Treaty 7 for taking such good care of this land, so that we may enjoy such abundance. We are all treaty people, and we accept the responsibilities that entails.

CONTACT SPIRITUS CHAMBER CHOIR

Email: info@spirituschamberchoir.ca

Web: spirituschamberchoir.ca

Facebook: Spiritus Chamber Choir

Instagram: spirituschamberchoiryyc

Twitter: @SpiritusChoir

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Spiritus Chamber Choir relies heavily on outside funding and donations in order to produce our concert season and recordings. Our funding comes from a combination of government grants, foundation grants, corporations, and private individuals. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our ongoing vision of providing Calgary with the finest in choral music. To donate, find us on CanadaHelps. org or visit spirituschamberchoir.ca.

Spiritus is also currently seeking sponsors to fund specific projects and initiatives. Please contact us by email at info@spirituschamberchoir.ca or speak with a member of the choir if you are interested in becoming a benefactor to help us realize our artistic ambitions.

GRANTING SPONSORS

DONORS (JULY 2021 - FEBRUARY 2024)

Andrea Ciona

Anna-Marie Koszarycz

Anne Stang

Anonymous

Antoinette Sossong

Colin Redekop

David Severson

Enerplus Resources

George Ferzoco

Ian McGregor

Jackson Wu

Ken Hryciw

Liz and Tony Fricke

Mark Bartel

Myriam Hemberger

Oliver Munar

Paul Newman

Peggy Wedderburn

Robert Dawson

SPIRITUS STAFF AND BOARD

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Volodymyr Amiot - President

Bri Harvie - Vice-President

Kevin Di Filippo - Secretary

Evan Cortens - Treasurer

Katt Hryciw - Director

Sarah McLean - Director

Allan Morgan - Director

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Events and Marketing - Nia Devetzis

Program Design - Volodymyr Amiot

Librarian - Dawn Coulter

Assistant Librarian - Joanna Henry

Graphic Design and Website - Bob Serrano

Administrative Support - Bri Harvie

... and our concert volunteers!

PROGRAM NOTES

The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy

Christopher Tin

“The Lost Birds is a musical memorial to bird species driven to extinction by humankind. Sweeping and elegiac, it’s a haunting tribute to those soaring flocks that once filled our skies, but whose songs have since been silenced. It’s a celebration of their feathered beauty: their symbolism as messengers of hope, peace, and renewal. But it’s also a warning about our own tenuous existence on the planet: that the fate that befell these once-soaring flocks foreshadows our own extinction.

The language is pastoral and romantic, by turns soaring and delicate, but with the slightest whisper of melancholy. It is a response to the noise of our times; a return to simplicity, clean lines, and the timelessness of hymns and folk melodies. It is a triumph of loveliness; a soundtrack for appreciating nature, and a reminder that we must preserve its ephemeral beauty while it still exists.”

- Christopher Tin

Lamentations of Jeremiah

Z. Randall Stroope

“This work captures five very different, but intertwined emotions: feeling grief-stricken with opening “moans” as Jeremiah is collapsed in the rubble of destroyed Jerusalem; striking out in anger at those who pass by (“O Vos Omnes”); completely consumed in self-pity (“Si est dolor”); enraged/pleading to perceived abandonment (“Recordare Domine”); and the inability to effectively face waves of overwhelming circumstances (“Recordare! O vos omnes! O Domine!…”).”

- Z. Randall Stroope

Rytmus

Ivan Hrusovsky

Rytmus is one of three etudes by Slovak composer Ivan Hrušovský. Born in Bratislava, Hrušovský wrote an extensive amount of works ranging from orchestral suites to folk choir pieces. Rytmus is a piece about honouring Eve that shows Hrušovský’s ability to close the gap between new and old classical music. The resulting harmony is tonal, with hints of modal textures. The quickly moving lines in combination with the poly-modal 20th century harmonies create a jolting and energizing experience for the listener.

Lunar Lullaby

Jacob Narverud

With flowing accompaniment and soaring lines, contemporary American composer Jacob Narverud weaves a sonic tapestry evoking ethereal moonlight. The text, written by American poet and singer Kathleen Nicely, is emotionally powerful and reflective.

Big Yellow Taxi

Joni Mitchell

arr. Adam & Matt Podd

“I wrote Big Yellow Taxi on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart…this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song. When it first came out, it was a regional hit in Hawaii because people there realized their paradise was being chewed up. It took 20 years for that song to sink into people in most other places. That is a powerful little song because there have been cases in a couple of cities of parking lots being torn up and turned into parks because of it.”

- Joni

Mitchell, in Mojo Magazine (March 2019)

Earth Song

Frank Ticheli

“The music and message of Earth Song are timeless, but perhaps they are even more meaningful in the world we live in today. When illness, poverty, and fear threaten us on every side, music remains a constant support in our lives – helping us remain grounded and secure no matter what comes our way. Earth Song serves as a perfect reminder of that fact. May we continue to always find peace in music – even when life overwhelms us and pulls us apart.”

- Frank Ticheli

Nipîy (Water Song)

Sherryl Sewepagaham

ed. Kim Denis

“Nipîy (Water Song) was inspired by an afternoon of fishing along the Lesser Slave River on the Sawridge Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory near Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada. It reflects a summer experience of sitting in quiet solitude, waiting for a fish to bite while noticing the river’s movement and listening to the birds, the wind and the water with a busy beaver working nearby. A large, northern pike was caught that evening. Cree teachings about fish teach that fish are meant to be food for all mammals and other fish and that they give medicine through their oils, minerals and vitamins, feeding and protecting our people for generations. Fish continue to be a source of sustenance and nourishment in the diets of many Cree people so it is important that we share our catch with the Elders and those we love.

Traditional Cree teachings about water teach us that water is the source and essence of all life and without water, there is no life. Water feeds us just as Mother Earth feeds us. It brings comfort and direction; when lost in the woods, water provides a path to follow and a system of landmarks when hunting and being on the land. When we meet the water, we must acknowledge its spirit and give thanks for all it provides.”

- Sherryl Sewepagaham

Sherryl Sewepagaham is of Woodland Cree and Dene ancestry from the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta and lives in Edmonton. She is an experienced children’s choir director, a K-6 elementary music specialist, and Orff-Schulwerk specialist focusing on Indigenous music, pedagogies, and worldview through music and song. With Land as her teacher, Sherryl is furthering her knowledge of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being while learning traditional practices on the land and waters in her territory

Journey Song

Mari Alice Conrad

poetry by Anna Marie Sewell

“I first published a version of Journey Song in my 2009 collection, Fifth World Drum. Since then, I’ve played with it and revised it in various ways. I made a live performance version back in 2010 for the Olympic edition of The Talking Stick Festival in Vancouver. There’s a video poem posted here on prairiepomes.com a few years ago. And then there is this spectacular rendering of an expanded lyric I offered to Mari Alice Conrad when she was chosen for a national mentorship program for young composers, based in some small part on her successful setting of our first collaboration, Tax Day Homestretch.

Journey Song holds a special place in my heart for many reasons. Behind the poetry are stories that revealed to me, in many ways, the resilience and courage of humans, and of this world of song in which we are blessed to live singing. Particular stories that inspired Journey Song? For one, in 2002, I worked with Dinka people from Sudan, who were undertaking to use music to teach literacy in their language. I come from journeying peoples, and my own family has undertaken epic voyages down the generations, but the journey they recounted to me was astonishing.

They spoke of walking hundreds of miles, carrying little but their hymnals and the songs therein, seeking refuge from the wars ravaging what is now South Sudan. And they held one of those books open before me, on the day they asked me to sing with them, leading my uncomprehending eye along the lines of text, while they sang into my eager ears, that I might join and raise my voice, even though I did not know the words. Unforgettable power and grace.

Then there are the people I met in Kobe in 1995 when I took a day off my teaching job to go with a friend to help with relief efforts after the earthquake. Again, the grace, dignity and resilience of the people I met made an indelible impression.

And there are many other stories of journeys great and small, made by humans, yes, but also so many of our fellow travellers in their yearly migrations, in their search for home and rest, in their desire to find a good place to be, that Journey Song brings into my heart and mind. I hope it calls to you remembrance of the journeys in your own life that inspire you to go on, that remind you that, however slight our voice or small our path, we are all part of the Great Song.”

-Anna Marie Sewell, 2021

Mari Alice Conrad is an award-winning composer and arranger based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is in high demand as a composer featuring performances with various ensembles across Canada, USA, and Europe.

Poet and performer Anna Marie Sewell was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and is of Mi’gmaq, Anishinaabe, and Polish heritage. She is the author of the poetry collections Fifth World Drum (2009) and For the Changing Moon: Poems and Songs (2018). Sewell’s practice incorporates poetry, song, theatre, and community arts. Currently living in Edmonton, Alberta, Sewell is an influential Canadian poet.

Oliassa

Malika Tirolien

“Some emotions are too subtle to be described by words. ‘Oliassa’ is the sound of a feeling that can be different for everyone. I deliberately chose to sing it in an invented language so each listener could have their own experience and choose their own meaning for the song. For me, the song is a call from the ancestors, as if they wanted to share some serious knowledge with us in a profound way that we can only understand in our hearts.”

-Anna Marie Sewell, 2021

Originally from Guadeloupe, now based in Montreal, Grammy-nominated vocalist, songwriter, and producer Malika Tirolien is an explosive mix of creativity, dedication, and genuineness. Her love, passion, and respect for music can be felt in the sparkling authenticity of her performances, in which her soaring voice immediately grabs your attention and her well-crafted compositions present effusive emotions through conscious and engaged lyrics. Taken from her 2014 album Sur La Voie Ensoleillée, Oliassa is a unique a cappella work, this choral setting was created in collaboration with Malika Tirolien and Vancouver’s Musica Intima.

The Lost Birds

Sunday, March 3, 2024 at 3:00 pm

Knox United Church

SPIRITUS

2. The Saddest Noise

3. Bird Raptures

4. A Hundred Thousand Birds

5. Wild Swans

7.

Piano: Colin Redekop

Violin: Andrea Neumann

Violin: Diane Lane

Viola: Patricia Higgins

Cello: Olena Kilchyk

Christopher Tin (1976-)

BISHOP CARROLL CHOIRS

Lamentations of Jeremiah

Rytmus

Lunar Lullaby

Big Yellow Taxi

Z. Randall Stroope (1953-)

Ivan Hrusovsky (1927-2001)

Jacob Narverud (1986-)

Joni Mitchell (1943-) arr. Adam & Matt Podd

SPIRITUS

Earth Song

Nipîy (Water Song)

Journey Song

Frank Ticheli (1958-)

Sherryl Sewepagaham ed. Kim Denis

Mari Alice Conrad (1981-) poetry by Anna Marie Sewell (1965-)

MASSED PIECE

Oliassa

Malika Tirolien (1983-)

TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

2. The Saddest Noise

adapted from a poem by Emily Dickinson

Between the March and April line -

That magical frontier

Beyond which summer hesitates, Almost too heavenly near.

The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows and grows,The birds, they make it in the spring, At night’s delicious close.

The saddest noise I know.

It makes us think of all the dead

That sauntered with us here, By separation’s sorcery

Made cruelly more dear.

It makes us think of what we had, And what we now deplore.

We almost wish those siren throats

Would go and sing no more.

An ear can break a human heart

As quickly as a spear, We wish the ear had not a heart

So dangerously near.

3. Bird Raptures

adapted from a poem by Christina Rossetti

The sunrise wakes the lark to sing, The moonrise wakes the nightingale.

Come darkness, moonrise, every thing

That is so silent, sweet, and pale: Come, so ye wake the nightingale.

Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon,

Make haste to wake the nightingale:

Let silence set the world in tune

To hearken to that wordless tale

Which warbles from the nightingale

O herald skylark, stay thy flight

To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail; Leave us to-night the nightingale.

For a nightingale floods us with delight.

4. A Hundred Thousand Birds

adapted from a poem by Christina Rossetti

A hundred thousand birds salute the day:One solitary bird salutes the night: Its mellow grieving wiles our grief away, And tunes our weary watches to delight; It seems to sing the thoughts we cannot say, And to set them right;

Until we feel once more that May is May, And hope some buds may bloom without a blight.

A hundred thousand birds salute the day: -

One solitary bird salutes the night:

This solitary bird outweighs, outvies, The hundred thousand merry-making birds

Whose innocent warblings might make us wise

Would we but follow when they bid us rise, Would we but set their notes of praise to words

And launch our hearts up with them to the skies.

5. Wild Swans

adapted from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay Cry…

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over. And what did I see I had not seen before?

Only a question less or a question more; And what did I see? No less, no more, and Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying wild. Come over the town again, trailing your legs and crying!

I looked inside my Tiresome heart, forever living, forever dying, House without air, I leave and lock your door. Forever more I leave you.

Wild swans, come over the town again, trailing your legs and crying!

7. Thus in the Winter

adapted from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:

I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me

A little while, that in my sings no more.

But the rain is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sign upon the glass and listen for reply,

And in my heart there stirs a pain

For unremembered birds again

That will not wake at midnight with a cry.

8. There Will Come Soft Rains

adapted from a poem by Sara Teasdale

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

Not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.

The sunrise wakes the lark to sing…

Between the March and April line…

One solitary bird salutes the night…

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over… Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree…

9. All That Could Never Be Said

adapted from a poem by Sara Teasdale

All that could never be said,

All that could never be done, Wait for us at last

Somewhere back of the sun;

All the heart broke to forego

Shall be ours without pain, We shall take them as lightly as girls

Pluck flowers after rain.

All that could never be said,

All that could never be done, Wait for us at last

By the sun.

10. I Shall Not See the Shadows

adapted from poems by Christina Rossetti and Emily Dickinson

When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;

Plant thou no roses at my head,

Nor shady cypress tree:

Be the green grass above me

With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale

Sing on, as if in pain:

And dreaming through the twilight

That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

Between the March and April lineThat magical frontier

Beyond which summer hesitates, Almost too heavenly near.

The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows and grows,The birds, they made it in the spring,

At night’s delicious close.

The saddest noise I know.

11. In the End

adapted from a poem by Sara Teasdale

All that could never be said,

All that could never be done, Wait for us at last

Somewhere back of the sun; And when they are ours in the end

Perhaps after all

The skies will not open for us

Nor heaven be there at our call. After all that was never done.

12. Hope is the Thing with Feathers

adapted from a poem by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the things with feathers

That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

Lamentations of Jeremiah text adapted from the Latin Vulgate translation of Lamentations 1:12

O vos Omnes!

Qui transitis per viam, O Vos Omnes!

Atendite! Atendite!

Videte, videte, videte, videte!

Si est dolor, dolor, sicut dolor meus!

Recordare Domine intuere respice!

Recordare Domine oprobrium nostrum!

Recordare!

Si est dolor, Recordare, dolor, Recordare Meus!

O vos Omnes!

O Domine!

All you People

Those who pass by, Oh you People

Attention! Attention!

See (witness), see, see, see!

If it is pain, pain, pain given to me!

Remember O Lord, look!

Remember O Lord, the disgrace of ours!

Remember!

If it is pain, Remember, pain, Remember mine!

Oh you People!

O Lord!

Rytmus

text: Latin

Ave Eva fons Amoris

Tu Regina Venustatis

Lunar Lullaby

The moon settles in the dusky sky.

The gentle eyes of the north star rest upon your sleeping face and the heavens gaze upon you.

In this moment, I know;

Hail Eve, Source of Love

You are Queen of Beauty

You are not from the ground on which you tread, But of the stars

You are my radiant, my celestial child.

As night is drowned by morning

You remain at my side, Accompanying the sunrise

Until night swells again across the sky.

Then, dreaming, you return to the stars.

Big Yellow Taxi

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot

Refrain:

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

They took all the trees put ‘em in a tree museum

And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see ‘em

Refrain

Hey farmer farmer put away that DDT now

Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees

Please!

Refrain

Late last night I heard the screen door slam

And a big yellow taxi took away my old man

Refrain

Earth Song

Sing, Be, Live, See.

This dark stormy hour, the wind, it stirs.

The scorched earth cries out in vain:

O war and power, You blind and blur, The torn heart cries out in pain.

But music and singing have been my refuge, And music and singing shall be my light.

A light of song shining Strong: Alleluia!

Through darkness, pain, and strife, I’ll Sing, Be, Live, See…

Peace.

Nipîy (Water Song)

Nipîy means “water” in Woodland Cree Y-Dialect. It is pronounced [nI-pi] or “nih-pee.”

Ôtah nîyayân

[o - t�h ni-jaI - y�n]

Oh-tuhh nee-yai-yuhn

Nitayapin cîkih nipîhk

[Ni - taI - j� - pIn t∫i - kIh ni - pIhk]

Nee-TAI-yuh-pihn chee-kihh nee-pihhk

Kisâmintin

[ki - sa - mIn – tIn]

kee-SAH-min-tin

Kipîhtatin

[kI - pih - t� –tIn]

Kih-peehh-TUH-tin

Kiwâpamtin

[ki - wa - p�m - tIn]

Kee-wah-PUM-tin

Ôtah nîyayân

[o - t�h ni-jaI - y�n]

Oh-tuhh nee-yai-yuhn

Papîyahtik nitapin

[p� - pi - j�h - tIk nI - t� - pIn]

Puh-pee-YUHH-tik nih-tuh-pin

I am here.

I sit beside the water.

I touch you.

I hear you.

I see you.

I am here.

I sit quietly.

Journey Song

An excerpt from this poem was first published under the title ‘Journey Prayer’ in Anna Marie Sewell’s book Fifth World Drum, 2009, Frontenac House, Calgary.

I am the Silence Between Two Rivers and from this silence, let me follow the Song

O Great Song, at the rising of a well-spring

O Great Song, as I tumble from this silence to the ceaseless singing sea let me follow you, swallow you, and sing

Enough light for the journey, and breath enough enough fire for the journey, and love enough enough road for the journey, and will enough and all along the way to hear the song that we are.

O Great Song, in which we all fly home Great Song, a moment and we’re gone

O Great Song Great River of Song