I had a sort of dream-trance the other day, in which I saw my favorite trees step out and promenade up, down and around, very curiously--with a whisper from one, leaning down as he pass'd me, 'We do all this on the present occasion, exceptionally, just for you.'

               - WALT WHITMAN, 'Thoughts Under an Oak,' from Specimen Days, 1875

             Composer Grant Beglarian, courtesy of Eve Beglarian; collage by Linda Norton, 2014