From the recording Hope ~ k'uy təm-təm kakwa

This piece sets a poem of Emily Dickinson to music and features a middle section of birdsong conveyed by the violin and clarinet, while the soprano singes Northwestern bird names in the Native Northwest language of chinuk wawa. Features soprano Sophie Therrell with Michael Anderson, clarinet and Alice Blankenship, violin.

Lyrics

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

uk pʰil tipiʔ t'ɬi-tʼɬi shati, shati, shati
(the red-winged blackbird sings, sings, sings)

lux lux kələkələ chaku sax̣ali təm-təm
(tree swallow awakens)

pulakʰli c'hak-c'hak hala,
(nighthawk calls)

kələkələ tipiʔ kʰapa uk pʰil k'wətʰin
(feather from the robin red-breast)

tsin-tsin, tsin-tsin, tsin-tsin, spuʔ-uk pʰil tsin-tsin
(hummingbird, violin, hummingbird, pink hummingbird)

tipiʔ-latet qis-qis
(Stellar's jay)

x̣wani, x̣wani, x̣wani shati
(Seagull, seagull, seagull sings)

kələkələ tipiʔ kələkələ
(bird-feather, bird)

k'uy təm-təm kakwa
(hope~hopeful feels thus)

(kʰepit kakwa
the end)