What We Are (2019) by Shawne Anell Workman

Musings on the nature of humankind in 3 movements for unaccompanied SATB coir and soloists.

Text and music S. A. Workman.

Performed at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, conducted by S. A. Workman.
Soloists:
Gabriella Martinez, soprano
Naomi Columna, soprano
Abigail Monroe, alto

Text

I
Restless stews of carbon chemistry
In flux persisting.
Time-walking confusions of organic matter
In brief existence.
We don’t know what we are.
Conflicted meshes of sly contradiction
Observers, deniers, truth-seekers, liars
We don’t even know what we are.
Spark of soul, flame of higher power—
In deo speramus.
Blessed empathy, soulless cruelty—
In deo fidemus.
Creators of beauty
God only knows.
Hateful destroyers
God only knows.
Deus solus scit.
Deus solus novit.
Awestruck lovers
Watching amazed
As galaxies rush on,
apart,
away.
God only knows what we are.

II
Particles shimmering here and gone
Hold, combine, evolve, grow, move, live
To look upward, outward, and see!
Then subside, expire, fragment
Disperse and diffuse, and
Reunite with the rest.

III
Don't be afraid.
Such beauty
Must be good
And holds love.

— Shawne Anell Workman, 2018

(Copyright Shawne Anell Workman 2018-2020.)

Contains tracks

• What We Are - I by Shawne Anell Workman
• What We Are - II by Shawne Anell Workman
• What We Are - III by Shawne Anell Workman