Blackbird Etude

Commissioned by Lesley Leighton. Premiered by the Los Angeles Master Chorale Chamber Singers, conducted by Lesley Leighton at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The blackbird sings at
the frontier of his music.
The branch where he sat

marks the brink of doubt,
is the outpost of his realm,
edge from which to rout

encroachers with trills
and melismatic runs sur-
passing earthbound skills.

It sounds like ardor,
it sounds like joy. We are glad
here at the border

where he signs the air
with his invisible staves,
“Trespassers beware”—

Song as survival—
a kind of pure music which
we cannot rival.