The text for this piece is an excerpt from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It is a toast from America to the world, recognizing the splendor of the entire earth and how each nation is only a tiny part of the whole. Whitman talks about foreign lands as being a part of his own body, exploring how the earth exists in all of us and how that connects us as citizens of the world. 

Commissioned and premiered by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club.

Type: Choral
Voicing or Instrumentation: TTBB and piano