Seals & Crofts – East of Ginger Trees

(lyrics by James Seals; music by James Seals & Dash Crofts, 1971)

From the albums SUMMER BREEZE (1972), GREATEST HITS (1975), SUDAN VILLAGE (1976),

THE SEALS & CROFTS COLLECTION (1979) and LIFT UP YOUR VOICES AND SING, VOL. 2 (1997).

Go east of your dream and farm. Let peace and silence spin your yarn.

What harm can befall thee in yon wilderness of clove?

Go on east of ginger trees. Go soft and silent like the breeze.

With ease be off and wander in yon wilderness of clove.

Go on past the goldenrods, where fools and angels lose their odds.

And gods of our ancestors did immerse themselves in clove.

Go on toward the crimson shore, beyond this life of metaphors.

Where doors of understanding’s house decorates he them with clove.

(From Baha’i scripture) “Be lions roaring in the forests of knowledge,

Whales swimming in the oceans of life.”

Prepare to meet Bahá’u’llá’h in the Garden of Clove.

Note: Vahid Odin Spencer provided me with the context of the closing lyric in October of 1999 —

O Lord! Should the breath of the Holy Spirit confirm the weakest of

creatures, he would attain all to which he aspireth and would

possess anything he desireth. Indeed, Thou hast assisted

Thy servants in the past and, though they were the

weakest of Thy creatures, the lowliest of Thy servants and the most

insignificant of those who lived upon the earth, through

Thy sanction and potency they took precedence over the most

glorious of Thy people and the most noble of mankind. Whereas

formerly they were as moths, they became as royal falcons, and

whereas before they were as brooks, they became as seas, through

Thy bestowal and Thy mercy. They became, through Thy

most great favor, stars shining on the horizon of guidance,

birds singing in the rose gardens of immortality, lions

roaring in the forests of knowledge and wisdom, and whales swimming in the oceans of life.

(Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablets of the Divine Plan, Page: 107)