Laura's Chapel
THE MYSTERY IS CALLING
Hold & Be Held
November 16 & 17, 2023
THE FREE RANGE SINGERS
In Central Park on Thursday
and Sycamore Park on Friday, 10:30am.
We are making a SONG OFFERING to the land. Our intention is to create a space for communal grief and healing with all the communities impacted by the violence that occurred in these parks last spring-- communities of people, creatures, trees, and all beings.
We have prepared these songs over many weeks, filling them with PRAYER, BEAUTY, and HEART. The entire process has been a way to connect with each other and with all the beings around us as we sing outdoors each week.
We are taking special care to HONOR and BLESS the memory of David Breaux and Karim Abou-Najm with songs, prayers, and flowers.
LYRICS: HOLD AND BE HELD
Fall 2023 Free Range Singers
Greeting and Connecting
EARTH YOU HOLD US by Lyndsey Scott
Oh, oh. Oh, oh...
Earth, you hold us as we gather
Together, to know ourselves as
Whole, at home, alive, and strong
Guide us as we enter in
Together in remembering
We're whole, at home, alive, and strong
Rooted in truth, grounded in now
Guided by love, I am allowing
Life to provide all that I need to grow
ALL TIME by Heidi Ann Wilson
Here in the all time
Ancient, future, freshling all time
YOU CAN HOLD TO ME by Kira Seto
I will be your rock steady in the river
I will be your willow bending with the wind
I will be your tree rooted in the storm
You can hold to me, you can hold to me
And when you get swept away
Reach out and hold on
I've got you, we'll wait it out
You can hold to me, you can hold to me
BEND AND REBOUND by Heidi Ann Wilson
Bend and rebound
Bend and rebound
Gentle strength of the willow is found in the
Bend and rebound
HOLD AND BE HELD by Laura Sandage
Chorus:
Hold and be held
In earth, in song, in love
Hold and keep to the dark down deep
Don't try to rise above
Hold and be held
In nurture, tears, in dirt
Hold and keep to the dark down deep
Cling fast to mother's skirt
We know things aren't just things
'Cause every piece of everything sings
And we gotta have a body, heart, lung, breath, tongue
If we wanna make a note that rings
~Chorus~
We long to shine our power
Human or mosquito or flower
And we gotta have a body, heart, wing, breath, sting
Singing praises in the golden hour
~Chorus~
Grieving and Holding
WEEP WITH ME, TINY TREE by Laura Sandage
Weep with me, tiny tree
I weep with tears, you weep with branches
Weep with me, tiny tree
I am weeping here with you
I am weeping here with you
Sticks and stones, fountain bones
One mossy chair, a gate to nowhere
Green and gray, sun and shade
You are weeping here with me
You are weeping here with me
Oo...
If I let myself fall, where will I land?
Back on the ground, face to the sky
If I let myself fall, will you take my hand?
Roots in the ground, bending to cry
Needles soft hang aloft
I touch you now, your shadow dances
Sing with me, a song we'll be
I am singing here with you
You are singing here with me
We are singing here as One
FARE THEE WELL by Heidi Ann Wilson
Chorus:
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well, my dearest one
Fare thee well, fare thee well
Fare thee well, beyond the moon and sun
And in the stars above, we'll watch for you
And may the songs we sing shine bright and true
~Chorus~
And may the winds be fair that carry you
Into the great beyond, I'll miss you
~Chorus~
TRIPLE COMPASSION by Kate Munger/trad Buddhist
You who listen deeply to the suffering of the world
Hold my heart in your hand
Om tare tuttare ture soha
Pour upon us great love and great light
HOME TO LOVE by Laura Sandage
Help us find our way back home to love
Help us find our way to love
Help them find their way...
Help him find his way...
O SING TO ME OF HEAVEN trad. Southern hymn
O sing to me of Heav'n
When I am called to die
Sing songs of holy ecstasy,
To waft my soul on high
Chorus:
There'll be no sorrow there
There'll be no sorrow there
In heav'n above, where all is love
There'll be no sorrow there
When cold and sluggish drops
Roll off my dying brow
Break forth in songs of joyfulness
Let heav’n begin below
~Chorus~
Then to my raptured ear
Let one sweet song be given
Let music charm me last on earth
And greet me first in heav'n
~Chorus~
Returning and Integrating
BACK TO BALANCE by Sarina Partridge
Let the song of the waking leaves
On the oak trees
Call me back, call me back
To balance.
Held here in the in between
Ever turning
Call me, call me back
I am listening.
It's okay if you're not okay
It's okay if you're not okay
You're loved, darlin', anyway
It's gonna be okay
UNRAVELLING by Heidi Ann Wilson
In the great unravelling, I love you
Oh, in the great unravelling,I love you
COBALT SKY by Heidi Ann Wilson
I let my heart fall open
Under a cobalt sky
Everyone is born
Everyone will die
Oo...
I let my heart fall
Open, open
I let my heart fall
Open, open
Oo...
I AM by Heather Stevenson
I am born with my heart open wide on this earth
The earth is my heart and my home
Home is a knowing that's as deep as the love of the
Universe that tells us all we're never alone
I am born
I am home
I am home and it's as deep as the love of the
Universe that tells us all we're never alone
I am, I am
I am my heart and my home
I am, I am the
Universe that tells us all we're never alone
SHIELDS OAK GROVE EVENT
May 25, 2023, 10:30 am
What Are We Doing?
We are making a SONG OFFERING to the Oak Grove.
We have prepared these songs over many weeks, filling them with joy and beauty and heart. The entire process has been a way to connect with each other and with all the beings around us as we sing outdoors.
Now we have brought them here as a gift to the Oak trees, the insects, the worms and snails, and the humans like you who are part of this setting.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
• You can receive the songs as part of the grove. Hang out with the trees and critters and take in the music and the heartfelt intention of what we are doing.
• You can join in with us as you feel moved. Sing along, stand with us, move with us, speak when there is an invitation.
• You can respect and appreciate what we are doing by not interfering, by applauding if you are so moved or showing your appreciation in other ways.
• You can learn more about the songs by reading below and following the links when you have time later to listen.
About the Songs
These songs come from the Community Singing movement. The Free Range Singers and director Laura Sandage are part of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, an international community of people (mostly in Canada and the US) who sing together for joy and connection. Another network is the Natural Voice Network in the UK. Many songs shared in these communities can be found online, in resources such as this one: Lisa Littlebird's Online Song Library.
Lyrics and Credits
Laura Sandage, Davis, CA
Oh, the Beauty
Oh, the Beauty 3x
Bowing down, bowing down before you
Oh, the Forest 3x
On our knees, on our knees before you
Oh, the Oak trees 3x
Carry us, carry us along with you
Sarina Partridge, Minneapolis, MN
Listen
I will bow my head to this beauty
I will fill my song with you, oh, forest
I will sink to my knees at the feet of the trees
And listen, I will listen
Anna Richardson, River Jones, and Oran Ash of the Children's Forest Movement in England
CHORUS:
Oak, oak, oak of old
King of trees in your crown of gold
You are the door to worlds unseen
In winter bare and in summer green
VERSES:
1. Five hundred years to grow and thrive
Five hundred more to remain alive
Shelter for all throughout your reign
And many thousand lives sustain
2. Your roots grow deep, your heart so strong
Power of the sun to you belongs
Generous to all as king you stand
In strength and peace you guard this land
3. From gold to green and gold once more
Your leaves will turn before they fall
When twice you've worn your golden crown
Each season's harvest comes tumbling down
(VERSE 4 lyrics by Alison Berry of Davis)
4. Your living roots in soil abound
A web of life giving to the ground
From forest oak to microbe small
The microbiome joins us all
Helen Yeomans, Bristol, UK
Unto this land my heart I seal
To always love and cherish as my own
And through my veins her crystal waters flow
To the ocean of my soul
Unto this land I shall return
When all my days upon this earth are done
And in her arms I'll lay my body down
And my heart will find its home
Heidi Ann Wilson, Vermont
Go Slowly
The Sun Is Our Star
Go slowly, slowly
Slowly orbit over the soil
Building a spiral of time on your back
Days into seasons to years
You carry a galaxy, so go slowly...
~also by Heidi Ann Wilson~
The sun is our star (4x)
How we turn and twist and reach for you
How we open every leaf to you
With a fierce and fiery love for us
You would burn it to the ground for us
We turn and turn around you
We turn and turn
Alexa Sunshine Rose, Port Townsend, Washington
We are created by sound
We are created by the song of the universe (repeat)
Singing with the trees
Singing with the song of the universe
Singing with the whales
Singing with the honeybees
All creation sings (repeat)
Margaret Miles, Berkeley, CA
My massive trunk sprang from a pod smaller than a human hand
Fed by mist and sun, I'm connected both to sky and land
I shelter and I feed you, create your very air
Pollinators learn my messages, returning every year
CHORUS:
Years pass, our grown is silent and unseen
We are the inscrutable Generosity of Green
Your lives flit by in just a blink, like petals on the breeze
We the silent sentinels exist for centuries
Nourished by our ancestors whom the first people beheld
The many miracles that Green devise cease when we are felled
CHORUS
All growing things alone disclose the wordless mind of God (4x)
You behold our branches, but you never see us whole
You dwell onon the surface; You cannot glimpse our soul
A network of filaments, there is as much of us below
Our roots are our community, where our spirits ever grow
CHORUS (2x)
Heidi Ann Wilson, Vermont
Limber Dancer
Have you seen the swaying of the white pine
Praying in a wild wind?
Limbs up lifted to the sky
Limber dancer on high
Kira Seto, Bend, Oregon
Bumblebee Waltz
Bumblebee, bumblebee, bumblebee, I see you pollinating
I feel your love; I see you pollinating
Floating from flower to flower, spreading all your love
Pollen, nectar, ancient love
Katy Rose Bennett, Birmingham, UK
Yoy yoy yoy . . .
Trees give me strength
Oh, trees give me strength
I am weary, I am worn down
I am lonely, help me turn this around
Trees give me strength
Oh, trees give me strength
I am holey, I am burned out
I'm bewildered how my whole life turned out
When the shadows in my mind are growing
Still a spark behind my eyes, the dark is rising fast
I will fly into your arms, my friend
To touch your skin
And I'll begin to mend
Trees give me strength
Oh, trees give me strength
Iam guilty, I am gone astray
I'm a vagabond, how they've cast me away
When the shadows in my mind are growing
Still a spark behind my eyes, the dark is rising fast
I will fly into your arms, my friend
To touch your skin
And I'll begin to mend
Yoy yoy yoy . . .
Trees . . . Oh, trees . . .
Mo Washburn, Sebastopol, CA
I believe
That I belong
To the Earth
I belong
May my life
Be a song
May my song
Feed the Earth