I wrote this song at St. Gertrude’s while walking through the woods and wondering about wisdom. Read my annotations to learn more! If you fancy, you can hear a draft recording of this song - recorded in my studio at St. Gertrude’s (my indoor studio, not the woods, which were just as much my studio)! The recording is all the way at the bottom of the page, under my numerous footnotes.

who is she?

Baptized in the firmament [1]

Anointed by the snow [2]

Decorated ‘midst the stars,

And all the heav’nly hosts [3]

Who is she? [4]

Does she labor with me? [5]

Is she like a Steller’s Jay

In the middle of the day? [6]

Or is she like an owl white,

Winging through the woods at night? [7]

Who is she?

Does she labor with me? [8]

If I drive from Boise through Payette

To Cottonwood,

Does her hand rest on my own,

And help me slow down when I should? [9]

And on the bus rise down to Xela,

Did she fly resplendently? [10]

Or the ski lift up to Eden, [11]

Then did her visage I see? [12]

Who is she?

Does she labor with me? [13]

I may not always recognize

Her plumage – dark or bright [14]

But I shall know her by her deeds,

In the day and in the night. [15]

Yes, by her footprints in the snow, [16]

Sophia always shows [17]

What her children need to know,

And where it is that they should go. [18]

[1] Google this archaic word! I found this definition when I just did: “the heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing.” I like that.

[2] I’m using religious words like “baptized” and “anointed” and contrasting/comparing them with mysteries of the natural world like the “firmament” and “snow.” Who would be baptized in the sky or given their priestly duties in the snow? 

[3] I mean decorated as in the way a political ruler is “decorated” with honors, yet this person is decorated ‘midst the stars and the heavenly hosts. You might find several different descriptions of the heavenly host if you Google them. Angels, warriors, even the stars in the sky… There is a mystery here in my own mind about who they are.

[4] “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.” (Proverbs 3:19-20, NRSV)

[5] “So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it.” (Ecclesiastes 2:20-21, NRSV)

[6] While I was walking through the woods and writing these lyrics, a deep blue bird I had never seen landed on a pine branch right in front of me. I was transfixed. This is the bird (the colors were less clearly delineated to my eye than they look in these photographs – the black and blue blended together more): https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Stellers_Jay/photo-gallery

[7] I heard a beautiful Great Horned Owl multiple times in the woods around sunset at St. Gertrude’s. This line is about a visceral early childhood memory I have, though. I don’t remember where or when, but I was standing in a snowy forest at night and looking at a Snowy Owl in a tree: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl/photo-gallery

[8] “Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.” (Wisdom 6:12-13, NRSV)

[9] I did drive from Boise to Cottonwood. I did not drive through the town of Payette, but I did drive through the Payette National Forest. My survival of this journey attests to the fact that I slowed down when I should’ve. 

[10] I made a journey by myself in November 2020 to visit a dear friend who was living in Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala at the time. Obviously, this was a bizarre time to travel by myself to a foreign country. I took about a five-hour bus ride from Guatemala City through the mountains to get to Xela (which made me sick to my stomach). I kept wondering if I would see the elusive “Resplendent Quetzal” while in Guatemala, which Quetzaltenango was named for: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/resque1/cur/introduction. I did not see this beautiful bird, but I did see my friend. I believe now that it was ultimately a wise decision to make the trip, though I had my doubts at the time!

[11] First of all, you should know that the Garden of Eden in the Bible is on a mountain. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take a ski lift up that mountain and be there? Well, in Utah, I skied at a beautiful place called Powder Mountain and the town is called Eden. No coincidence there! You can read about my skiing adventure here: https://www.thedeneckes.com/wintergreen/wintergreen-journal-part-i

[12] Visage is a fancy word for someone’s face, countenance, likeness… If you read about my skiing adventure, you know that was another time when I had doubts about the wisdom of my choices… Then a lovely ski patrol member came and helped me traverse a trail I would not have otherwise done by myself. Wisdom sometimes calls us to take risks, I think! I was glad to see Julie’s visage that night, either way.

[13] “And if anyone loves righteousness, her labors are virtues, for she teaches self-control and prudence, justice and courage; nothing in life is more profitable for mortals than these.” (Wisdom 8:7, NRSV)

[14] Gotta round out the bird similes from earlier.

[15] “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” (Jesus, Matthew 11:18-19, NRSV)

[16] This stanza alludes to a poem called “White Fields” by James Stephens: “And our mothers always know / By the footprints in the snow, / Where it is the children go.”

[17] In my recording linked below, you can hear that I have been going back-and-forth about this line. I don’t know how subtle/not subtle I want to be with the answer to “who is she?” Sophia is not that subtle, though. This common name comes from the Greek word for Wisdom.

[18] I am not only alluding to Stephens’ “White Fields” in this stanza, but also referring back to Matthew 11:19 (referenced above). Some translations don’t speak of Wisdom’s works or deeds, but of her “children.” In the KJV (which I always consult for its great poetic beauty), Jesus says “But wisdom is justified of her children.”