Nature Music

my brother and i we had an early

introduction to the natural world

my mom’s a botanist and my earliest

memories revolve around

picnics um

vacations to the mountains and

collecting specimens

from parks and forests we grew up with a

lot of affinity towards the natural

world

and when i grew a bit older and when i

was studying architecture and open

ecology

came with it also a lot of distraught

a lot of feelings of hopelessness and

despair

stemming from the condition of our

cities stemming from the condition of

our planet

and the atrocities that we were posing

on the planet

whilst i was still in university i lost

my father to something called

interstitial lung disease

which is an irreversible fibrosis of the

lungs

i remember feeling so unanchored

and i remember asking myself how and

where he was and whether he was okay

and i remember writing myself a poem two

days before he left

reminding myself that i would always

find him

in myself and i would always find him

in the earth because his body was now

going back to the earth

this was a huge revelation for me in

many different spheres of my life

until now i was thinking we have to work

with nature

we have to in some ways save nature

but this was an experience that had me

realized that we were nature

we weren’t separate from her and that

the boundaries that we have created

between ourselves and between plants and

other creatures are the living beings

are all created by ourselves

i also came to realize that i had a tool

i had a voice that i could use to take a

profound experience such as the loss of

my father

and turn it into something meaningful

and beautiful

to share with myself to bring solace to

myself

and those around me this was the first

song i wrote and it’s called daddy’s

little girl

i will find him in the old books from

the column

i will find him in my mother’s

eyes i

will find him sitting on the terrace so

can the sun i will find him

catching me and never

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always be

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daddy’s little girl

i will find him in the sunlight

peeking through my window i will fight

him

every cricket season

i will find him when i look up into

the night sky i will find him

catch a mate and

[Applause]

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miss cause you always

be daddy’s little girl

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you always be

daddy’s little girl

i will find my soul

in my

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is

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daddy’s little girl

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after university i went on to work in

conservation

and i have learned that our actions are

causing severe disturbances

to the mountains to rivers to forests to

oceans

to all living creatures that walk swim

and fly on the earth

life as we know it is shrinking and

these precious resources

have taken millions of years to evolve

once lost

they would be lost forever we need to

come together and stand

beside her now she

is resilient the earth she will survive

but not us neither life as we know it

and this song is dedicated to her

have you ever seen the wind

i never saw her my friend

is she real what you know

i asked the trees for when she

flows the trees

they bow down their heads the trees they

bow

down their heads the trees they bow

down their heads the trees they bow

down their heads

do you know why we seem

to be alive eternally

they say the mountains keep the secrets

as

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in

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so

whilst we strive to venture into

outer space she slowly

slips

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she slowly slips away

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oh

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