Text by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Text by Langston Hughes

To sit and dream, to sit and read,
To sit and learn about the world
Outside our world of here and now–
Our problem world–
To dream of vast horizons of the soul
Through dreams made whole,
Unfettered, free–help me!
All you who are dreamers, too,
Help me to make our world anew.
I reach out my hand to you.

Text by John Muir, adapted by the composer

Another glorious day, the air as delicious
to the lungs as nectar to the tongue.

The day was full of sparkling sunshine,
and at the same time enlivened with one of
the most bracing wind storms.

The mountain winds bless the forests with love.
They touch every tree, not one is forgotten.

When the storm began to sound,
I pushed out into the woods to enjoy it.
I should climb one of the trees for a wider look.

The sounds of the storm were glorious with
wild exuberance of light and motion.
Bending and swirling backward and forward, round and round,
in this wild sea of pines.

The storm-tones died away, and turning toward the east,
I beheld the trees, hushed and tranquil.
The setting sun filled them with amber light, and seemed to say,
“Come to the woods, for here is rest.”

AN DIE HEIMAT (sung in German)
TO MY HOMELAND, by Otto Inkermann

Heimat! Wunderbar tönendes Wort!
Homeland! Wonderful sounding word!
Wie auf befiederten Schwingen
As if on feathered wings
Ziehst du mein Herz zu dir fort.
You draw my heart toward you.
Jubelnd, als müβt ich den Gruβ
Rejoicing, as if I must bring the greeting
Jeglicher Seele dir bringen,
of each soul to you,
Trag ich zu dir meinen Fuβ,
step by step I come to you,
Freundliche Heimat!
Friendly homeland!

Heimat! Bei dem sanft Klingenden Ton
Homeland! The softly sounding music
Wecken mich alte Gesänge,
of old songs awakens in me
Die in der Ferne mich flohn;
songs I had forgotten in far-off lands.
Rufen mir freudenvoll zu
Beckoning sounds of my homeland
Heimatlich lockende Klänge,
call joyfully to me;
Du nur allein bist die Ruh,
you alone calm me,
Schützende Heimat!
Sheltering homeland!

Heimat! Gib mir den Frieden zurück,
Homeland! Return to me the peace
Den ich im Weiten verloren,
that I lost in faraway places;
Gib mir dein blühendes Glück!
Grant me your bountiful happiness!
Unter den Bäumen am Bach,
Under the trees by the brook
Wo ich vor Zeiten geboren,
where I was born so long ago,
Gib mir ein schützendes Dach,
give me a sheltering roof,
Liebende Heimat!
Loving homeland!

Text by Sara Teasdale, titled Joy

I am wild, I will sing to the trees,
I will sing to the stars in the sky,
I love, I am loved, he is mine,
Now at last I can die!

I am sandaled with wind and with flame,
I have heart-fire and singing to give,
I can tread on the grass or the stars,
Now at last I can live!

Text by the composer, Erika Lloyd

So far away
when all will shine
and all will play
hey.

The stars will open up and all will be
tiny pieces of galaxy,
reflected in you and me…

Cells, planets, same thing…

Bright electric lights on all the leaves,
and everything growing from a tree,
water’s blood, and roots are veins.

I don’t know you but I like you,
I don’t know you but I miss you,
I don’t know you but I need you…

The smallest is the biggest thing
and in all the world the love
is the love from me to you…