Sky's Mirror

for voice and cello by Pamela J. Marshall

Recorded on the CD Noises, Sounds & Strange Airs

Text adapted from Walden by Henry David Thoreau

(H)oh, ah. Mirror, ah.
Smooth mirror, ah. Smooth water, mirror. Perfect mirror. Ah, so smooth.
Undefiled. Ah, so fair. Sky water. Ah, Walden. So it seems.

Fair, smooth, pure. Seems fair, seems pure.
Human will not defile this lake, Walden.

Nothing so fair, nothing so pure, yet so large, lives on the earth.
Living on the earth. Live, live on earth. (Sky water)

>Mirror that no stone can crack. Breezes, ripples, smooth again.

Flash of light, the surface sparkles. Ev'ry sound how sweet the echo. Sweet echo, echo. Lake.

Of sun and wind, and rain. Innocence. Health. Summer and winter. Cheer.
Morning air heals. Nature is our healer. We grieve, Nature grieves too.

Sun fade, sun fade, wind sigh, sigh.
Clouds rain, tears rain, tears. Just cause? Who grieves? who?
Woods shed leaves. They mourn in midsummer, midsummer.
Shed leaves, mourn, shed tears.
Clouds rain, rain tears. I am crying. Nature cries, fading, sighing.
Who grieves? Who can defile, so fair, pure, defiled.

Delicious evening beside the lake, cloudy and windy, but serene.
Rippled, but not ruffled. Sky's mirror.
I hear bells, evening thrushes. Bullfrogs troonk, troonk.
Whip-poor-will echoes, oh, echoes in the night.
Fair smooth lake. I hear bells, I hear echo, magic bells.

Voice of the woods, notes sung by a nymph.
Notes that the air has strained and echoed, echoed by the shore.
Perfect mirror, undefiled.

Pamela Marshall's bio and program notes from the CD booklet

Information on the CD "Noises, Sounds and Strange Airs"

Information on printed music