[Verse 1] I walked where light falls soft through emerald height, Through pillared halls of green and filtered light, Where ancient redwoods hold the world in sway, And two thousand rings have watched the world away. Their bark is fire-red, furrowed deep and wide, As broad as cabins standing side by side, Their roots run shallow, but they intertwine, One holding all, in one unbroken line. [Pre-Chorus] No lone tree falls where brothers stand so near, They whisper low, and only fog can hear, The air is incense, fern and dampened loam, You come a stranger, but you leave at home. [Chorus] Stand below, and feel your briefness then, What are our years to them, what are we, men? We are the flicker, they the steady flame, And Humboldt teaches us to know the same. [Verse 2] Down Avenue of Giants, slow I drove, With windows down beneath the vaulted grove, Where sun comes down in shafts of dusty gold, And every turn feels like a prayer retold. In Prairie Creek the silent elk still roam, Through velvet moss, they make the woods their home, And Rockefeller Grove in holy deep, Holds giants that have never known sleep. [Chorus] Stand below, and feel your briefness then, What are our years to them, what are we, men? We are the flicker, they the steady flame, And Humboldt teaches us to know the same. [Verse 3: Where The Shoreline Breaks] Then sudden — trees give way to open air, The ocean roars, immense and salted fair, The forest kneels and yields to surf and stone, And all that green is met by blue alone. At Trinidad the sea-stacks stand like prayer, Gray sentinels in misty ocean air, The harbor boats they nod and softly swing, While gulls above in circles cry and sing. [Verse 4] Moonstone Beach will hide her agates bright, For those who stoop and search in morning light, And Luffenholtz, where cliffs fall green to foam, Where wild winds call the wanderer home. But farthest out, the Lost Coast, fierce and free, No road could tame her, wild as wild can be, Black Sands Beach lies dark as tempered steel, Where breakers crash and make the mainland kneel. [Pre-Chorus] At low tide, worlds bloom in pools of glass, Sea stars in purple, orange, tide-pool mass, Anemones unfold like shy desire, And mussels lock their blue-black doors up tight and entire. [Verse 5] Surfers wait in black, so calm, so cold, Their patience is a story to be told, They do not curse the sea, they understand The ocean gives and takes from every hand. At dusk the South Jetty burns with fire, The sky alight, a sinking, gold empire, And foghorns moan from Table Bluff so low, A lullaby for those who come and go. [Chorus] Stand below, and feel your briefness then, What are our years to them, what are we, men? We are the flicker, they the steady flame, And Humboldt teaches us to know the same. [Verse 6: The People, Cool and Kind] And then the people — gentle, calm, and kind, With weathered hands and unrushed peace of mind, Not hurried, not loud, not chasing praise or fame, They love the mist, they love the rain the same. In Arcata Square a fiddler plays a tune, For farmers, children, underneath the moon, A beekeeper with honey, amber and gold, A story shared, a hand to warm the cold. [Verse 7] Eureka's Victorians in painted rows, Like wildflowers after winter snows, And fishermen who mend their nets by hand, With knots their fathers taught them on this land. [Final Chorus] Stand below, and feel your briefness then, What are our years to them, what are we, men? We are the flicker, they the steady flame, And Humboldt teaches us to know the same. [Outro] You come a stranger, but you leave at home, Beneath the trees, beside the salted foam.
