Composed by Emily Drum
Lyrics by Emily Drum and Laynee Daniels

Notes from the composer:

This piece was born from an aching longing for community, friendship, and connection. Using nature and music as metaphors, the intertwining voice lines press against one another - mirroring the closeness I crave in real life. It’s a love letter to the community forming before my eyes through shared music and singing. May our leaves, roots, and branches collide.

Lyrics: 

I am a tree that is rooted in unsolid ground, unsolid ground
My branches bend in the wind yet no one hears a sound, they don’t hear a sound

I live in loneliness, a silence I detest
I long to be in a family, a forest
I live in emptiness, shadows that I suppress 
What good is being alive without a chorus

I’d rather be in a garden intertwined
Where the leaves and the roots and branches collide
I have outlived every storm and season on my own
I’m ready to be part of something living, something grown

I started tracing the lines beneath me to a place I couldn’t see
And for the first time wondered if they might make room for me

I hear it in the wind, a sudden resonance
I feel it coming to life, a melody begins
Nothing comes close to this, something I won’t resist
It’s getting louder now, the call to coexist

I’d rather be in a garden intertwined
Where the leaves and the roots and branches collide
I have outlived every storm and season on my own
I’m ready to be part of something living, something grown