The Life And Death Of A Plant Hunter
🎵 1406 characters
⏱️ 6:04 duration
🆔 ID: 14092492
📜 Lyrics
Hokkaido blooms in the rains of Kew
Trees grace the garden
Tall cedars and the yew
These were my world
Dreams, like seeds must be
Sown if they are to flower
Far I’d go, as the ocean would roll
Just to say I had known them
Seas of species I sailed all alone
If unseen, how could we
Grow them at all?
Golden pine, magnolia, bamboo
From Shanghai, east to Kyushu
Latinised, my name
Shall be a fragile fame
For my crowded hours
Spent on these gems
Their stamens and stems
Live lived among their flowers
China tea – terrace to samovar
I introduced to India
Sail and trade
Empires were not made, but grown
Underneath my gaze
Europe waits like a child at the gate
Eager for what I’ve brought him
Crysanthemum, the azalea or plum
Bay of Shimoda and Pagoda
Brought back here by botany
Green oceans away
When the ship sails back home
I may not be with her
But you’ll see on this quay
Europe, all I give her:
Species recovered from Edens unseen
Let this be my inscription
And if in all the years to follow
Wind still blow
Then all the world shall know
What I have seen
And if the ships still sail
From west to east, and home
My spirit will be with them
In the wind
And when the tea is brewed
And flowers bloom outside
My spirit will be with them
In the rain
Only this – not my name
Is all you need remember
All my crowded hours
Spent on these gems
Their stamens and stems
Life lived among their flowers
Trees grace the garden
Tall cedars and the yew
These were my world
Dreams, like seeds must be
Sown if they are to flower
Far I’d go, as the ocean would roll
Just to say I had known them
Seas of species I sailed all alone
If unseen, how could we
Grow them at all?
Golden pine, magnolia, bamboo
From Shanghai, east to Kyushu
Latinised, my name
Shall be a fragile fame
For my crowded hours
Spent on these gems
Their stamens and stems
Live lived among their flowers
China tea – terrace to samovar
I introduced to India
Sail and trade
Empires were not made, but grown
Underneath my gaze
Europe waits like a child at the gate
Eager for what I’ve brought him
Crysanthemum, the azalea or plum
Bay of Shimoda and Pagoda
Brought back here by botany
Green oceans away
When the ship sails back home
I may not be with her
But you’ll see on this quay
Europe, all I give her:
Species recovered from Edens unseen
Let this be my inscription
And if in all the years to follow
Wind still blow
Then all the world shall know
What I have seen
And if the ships still sail
From west to east, and home
My spirit will be with them
In the wind
And when the tea is brewed
And flowers bloom outside
My spirit will be with them
In the rain
Only this – not my name
Is all you need remember
All my crowded hours
Spent on these gems
Their stamens and stems
Life lived among their flowers
⏱️ Synced Lyrics
[00:05.08] Hokkaido blooms in the rains of Kew
[00:07.94] Trees grace the garden
[00:12.16] Tall cedars and the yew
[00:15.33] These were my world
[00:19.18] Dreams, like seeds must be
[00:26.54] Sown if they are to flower
[00:34.16] Far I’d go, as the ocean would roll
[00:41.52] Just to say I had known them
[00:48.97] Seas of species I sailed all alone
[00:55.95] If unseen, how could we
[01:01.01] Grow them at all?
[01:04.87]
[01:07.09] Golden pine, magnolia, bamboo
[01:14.48] From Shanghai, east to Kyushu
[01:21.77] Latinised, my name
[01:29.03] Shall be a fragile fame
[01:36.61] For my crowded hours
[01:43.84] Spent on these gems
[01:47.04] Their stamens and stems
[01:51.17] Live lived among their flowers
[01:58.47]
[01:58.88] China tea – terrace to samovar
[02:06.47] I introduced to India
[02:09.93] Sail and trade
[02:13.61] Empires were not made, but grown
[02:20.87] Underneath my gaze
[02:26.38]
[02:28.49] Europe waits like a child at the gate
[02:35.75] Eager for what I’ve brought him
[02:43.47] Crysanthemum, the azalea or plum
[02:47.34] Bay of Shimoda and Pagoda
[02:51.02] Brought back here by botany
[02:54.63] Green oceans away
[02:59.85]
[03:35.75] When the ship sails back home
[03:42.43] I may not be with her
[03:50.46] But you’ll see on this quay
[03:57.95] Europe, all I give her:
[04:05.15] Species recovered from Edens unseen
[04:12.51] Let this be my inscription
[04:18.40] And if in all the years to follow
[04:23.39] Wind still blow
[04:26.52] Then all the world shall know
[04:29.82] What I have seen
[04:32.96] And if the ships still sail
[04:35.90] From west to east, and home
[04:40.99] My spirit will be with them
[04:44.83] In the wind
[04:47.42] And when the tea is brewed
[04:50.84] And flowers bloom outside
[04:55.58] My spirit will be with them
[04:59.23] In the rain
[05:04.00] Only this – not my name
[05:11.07] Is all you need remember
[05:15.71]
[05:33.68] All my crowded hours
[05:40.46] Spent on these gems
[05:43.66] Their stamens and stems
[05:47.79] Life lived among their flowers
[05:52.11]
[00:07.94] Trees grace the garden
[00:12.16] Tall cedars and the yew
[00:15.33] These were my world
[00:19.18] Dreams, like seeds must be
[00:26.54] Sown if they are to flower
[00:34.16] Far I’d go, as the ocean would roll
[00:41.52] Just to say I had known them
[00:48.97] Seas of species I sailed all alone
[00:55.95] If unseen, how could we
[01:01.01] Grow them at all?
[01:04.87]
[01:07.09] Golden pine, magnolia, bamboo
[01:14.48] From Shanghai, east to Kyushu
[01:21.77] Latinised, my name
[01:29.03] Shall be a fragile fame
[01:36.61] For my crowded hours
[01:43.84] Spent on these gems
[01:47.04] Their stamens and stems
[01:51.17] Live lived among their flowers
[01:58.47]
[01:58.88] China tea – terrace to samovar
[02:06.47] I introduced to India
[02:09.93] Sail and trade
[02:13.61] Empires were not made, but grown
[02:20.87] Underneath my gaze
[02:26.38]
[02:28.49] Europe waits like a child at the gate
[02:35.75] Eager for what I’ve brought him
[02:43.47] Crysanthemum, the azalea or plum
[02:47.34] Bay of Shimoda and Pagoda
[02:51.02] Brought back here by botany
[02:54.63] Green oceans away
[02:59.85]
[03:35.75] When the ship sails back home
[03:42.43] I may not be with her
[03:50.46] But you’ll see on this quay
[03:57.95] Europe, all I give her:
[04:05.15] Species recovered from Edens unseen
[04:12.51] Let this be my inscription
[04:18.40] And if in all the years to follow
[04:23.39] Wind still blow
[04:26.52] Then all the world shall know
[04:29.82] What I have seen
[04:32.96] And if the ships still sail
[04:35.90] From west to east, and home
[04:40.99] My spirit will be with them
[04:44.83] In the wind
[04:47.42] And when the tea is brewed
[04:50.84] And flowers bloom outside
[04:55.58] My spirit will be with them
[04:59.23] In the rain
[05:04.00] Only this – not my name
[05:11.07] Is all you need remember
[05:15.71]
[05:33.68] All my crowded hours
[05:40.46] Spent on these gems
[05:43.66] Their stamens and stems
[05:47.79] Life lived among their flowers
[05:52.11]