Little One

My mother was an “old soul” – living in harmony with creative, constructive energies, and choosing to direct her life force in perceptive, loving care toward her family and community.  One of my earliest memories was being rocked to sleep by her, and becoming aware, somehow, of the palpable quality of her “inner peace” in the room. What an inheritance for a child – worth far more than money and valuables and property! Her untimely death left an unfillable hole in our family unit, and yet we have all tried, in our own ways, to pass on to others what we gained from her.

When my little nephew Chris was turning one, I was inspired to write him a birthday song to tell him about the wonderful grandma he would never meet – who nonetheless “remains in our heart.” His song is about her peace:

“Peace was the fragrance of the flower of her soul
That bloomed in that moment long ago.
It blessed the air around us with beauty untold,
Beauty that only the heart can behold.”

I first recorded the song “Little One” with singer Ryan Harrison on a “grief and healing” album in my mom’s memory that we made in the early 2000s.  It was turned into a TB choral piece at the initiation of Aaron Burgett, who directed its first performance for the spring 2022 San Diego Unified School District Honor Choir. Soon thereafter the SA version was adapted for Ed Snouffer’s Concert Treble Choir at Westlake High School in Austin, TX and first performed in October 2022.