Tiny Seeds

“Who saw the petals drop from the rose?

‘I’said the spider, ‘but nobody knows’ “

-Margaret Wise Brown, The Secret Song

My life is shaped by “aha” moments. Some of these came through introspection, looking inwards and paying attention to my thoughts or dreams. Others through close observation of nature, people, or art and music.

Reading the poem The Secret Song was a tiny “aha” moment for it celebrated hidden, almost imperceptible, discoveries.

All my prosaic life cycles started with such poetic moments - moments of innocence and straightforward truth. I never questioned them for they often led me to become aware of something new; an exquisite undiscovered quality; a startling insight that had me rethink my life and work. They would kick-start me on new discoveries, the seeds of long journeys.

When my children were little, my wife and I would read them children’s poetry. I was enchanted with the poets who could capture such innocent and powerful moments and find words to express them. At the time, my wife and I complimented our livelihood as musicians. So one day, I put one of these poems to music and taught my young daughters to sing it with me. Before we knew it, we had a dozen songs and the whole family involved. A family friend who who was visiting us heard some of the pieces and liked them so much that he helped us record them. The album, called Good Morning, Good Night, earned our merry group the 1988 Parents Choice Award. After recording two other albums of poetry and song, my work with Pomegranate Center demanded my full attention, and we ‘disbanded.’

In our family, music lives on in different ways with each of us every day - especially so with Anya’s singing career. She was a shy five when she was “the spider” in the song.  The tiny seeds of that endeavor grew into a professional career. 

Here is the recording from the Album Good Morning, Good Night as performed with our family and friends, including Nancy Rumbel, a Grammy-winning oboist and ocarina player. The other children featured in the song are my oldest daughter Katya as “the sea pigeon”, Taran Collis as “the night owl”, Bethany Ward as “the fish”, and of course Kathi Lightstone, my wife, as “the grey fox”.