Poem by Michael deVernon Boblett, "Blessed Be the Flower That Triumphs". Adapted by Elizabeth Alexander.
A warm and richly contrapuntal meditation on the true meaning of resurrection: that which returns and prevails despite persecution or death. This homage to a small but tenacious wildflower offers a dialogue between the grand and the humble, the temporal and the enduring. Available as a 5-minute a cappella piece, or as an 8-minute work for chorus and orchestra. Winner of the Athena Festival Almquist Award.
Commissioned by Bethlehem Music Series; Maria Bucka artistic director (Minneapolis, MN) Winner: Athena Festival Almquist Award
Text: Blessed be the flower that triumphs Over snows, over thorns, over withered stems, Over windswept mountains, over deserts cruel and dry. Blessed be the flower that triumphs. Blessed be the flower that triumphs Over wars, over change, over centuries, Over barbed wire fences, over soldiers' heavy feet. Blessed be the flower that triumphs. Blessed be the flower that triumphs Over well-meaning hands bent on gathering. Over small closed rooms, with their vases hard and cold. Blessed be the flower that triumphs. Blessed be the flower that triumphs Over vain words of priests and of poets pens And attempts to domesticate its wild, wild Truth. Blessed be the flower that triumphs. Blessed be the flower that triumphs Over past, over death, over silences, Enduring beyond iron and tears and severed roots, And restoring to all things a joyful smallness. Blessed be the flower that triumphs at last. Copyright 2007 by Michael deVernon Boblett. Used by permission of the author. All rights reserved.
