wild innocence

for 2 voices & Piano

2023

Music & text by Silen Wellington.
Videography by Rorey King.
Filmed and edited by Risking Joy Productions LLC.

Premiered by Rorey King, Alia Goldfarb, Silen Wellington & Ty Baniewicz with Kimberly Salico-Diehl on piano at Bas Bleu Theatre in Fort Collins, CO on November 1, 2023.

I wrote this for my own healing around being targeted by anti-trans hatred. Rather than thinking of innocence as naivety, or something you only have when nothing bad ever happened to you, this song is about wild innocence, that remembers everything and still believes in the beauty of tomorrow.

Text:

Washed ashore
Washed ashore
in wild innocence. 

Wash my bones,
Wash my bones
in wild
innocence, wild innocence. 
Wash my bones in wildness.

Disintegrate, resurrect
Resurrect, resurrect.
As all is lost
Save our names, 
Sing our names.

Mystery, save us.
Bathe us in the sky’s rain.

Spirit, 
Sing our names
Our real names
Spirit,
Sing our names
Our wild names.