Fire upon Leaf is a piece for SATB choir in five movements. The piece takes its roots in the poetry of H.D., an early-20th-century poet who embodied the spirit of Mother Nature in their poems. Three poems, “Night,” “Sea Rose,” and “Sea Poppies,” from the 1916 collection Sea Garden, are reflective of the beauties of nature and how human impact can change this beauty. Alongside H.D.’s texts are a juxtaposition of scientific research on how the Earth’s climate has changed over the last century. The final line of the last movement offers a potent reflection in the form of a question: “What meadow yields so fragrant a leaf as your bright leaf?” — inviting us to also ask: How different is the world we see today to that of H.D.’s 110 years ago? And how do we address the issues of climate change that we ourselves have caused?

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Movements

I. Night

II. 2° Fahrenheit

III. Sea Rose

IV. Earth, Our Home

V. Sea Poppies