Fire Flowers

Conductor Notes:

This is one movement from Laura’s wonderful suite The Secret Wisdom of Flowers.  Please see the full details in the Elektra repertoire site, and on Laura’s own website linked on this page,

And only where the forest fires have sped,
Scorching relentlessly the cool north lands,
A sweet wild flower lifts its purple head,
And, like some gentle spirit sorrow-fed,
It hides the scars with almost human hands.

And only to the heart that knows of grief,
Of desolating fire, of human pain,
There comes some purifying sweet belief,
Some fellow-feeling beautiful, if brief.
And life revives, and blossoms once again.

            E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)

Text Source

E Pauline Johnson