Starlight Through Woven Branches

[bnewman]

In J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of the Century, Tom Shippey highlights the opposition of stars, representing the eternal, and trees, representing the temporal, as a central theme of Elvish poetry. This resonates as well with the themes of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, when we live in booths thatched with branches or leaves through which we can see the stars.

lyrics and music by Benjamin Newman

listen to this song

/: G D / C GD :/

 

Through the years that we have dwelt here

We have called these lands our own

We have known a kind of shelter

Safe within our halls of stone

 

/ G C / - EmD / C D Em - / C D G - /

 

But we know we only sojourn

In this world of branches woven

And another destiny is ours...

Through these branches we can see the stars

 

All green growing, we will cherish

There is beauty here in earth

In this world, where all things perish

We build lives of lasting worth

 

Yet the stars' unchanging burning

Fills our hearts with endless yearning

For a light beyond these times and lands...

Stars set in their courses by Your hands

 

Know, then, that we still remember

Through our exile here afar

You have been our only shelter

Your love shines in every star

 

Here beneath the woven branches

Of this world of change and chances

Knowing, in each promise You fulfill...

We are dwelling in Your presence still