The Sound of Music

While reading for one of my classes I have been introduced to John Muir one of the early Transcendentalists (akin to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau)--you could say they were the original tree-huggers. Being a tree-hugger (and poet) at heart I was impressed by this passage from one of Muir's books, the chapter it comes from is called "A Wind-Storm in the Forests"

“I drifted on through the midst of this passionate music and motion, across many a glen, from ridge to ridge; often halting in the lee of a rock for shelter, or to gaze and listen. Even when the grand anthem had swelled to its highest pitch. I could distinctly hear the varying tones of individual trees,—Spruce, and Fir, and Pine, and leafless Oak, —and even the infinitely gentle rustle of the withered grasses at my feet. Each was expressing itself in its own way,—singing its own song…”

I have always felt that music has a way of touching the deeper part of one’s soul much like being alone in nature does. I love the way Muir intertwines these two elements in this passage. It isn’t hard to imagine the kind of music trees and grasses might make if they had a voice (or if we truly listened)—Muir was in tune enough to hear their symphony.