Beauty of the Lotus

By Sam Critchley

For Concert Band

To be performed in 2025

Beauty of the Lotus is a 3-movement piece for concert band that tells the story of the perfect life of a lotus flower.

I
The story begins as a seed, which drifts to find shelter in the murky bottom of a small pond. In the darkness, roots begin to creep through the muck like the legs of a spider. Shadows conceal the rotting remains of all the living things that have met their demise here, but this death fuels the twisted life the lotus seeks.

II
The lotus battles to raise its prideful head away from the darkness below. It greets the sun in a mesmerizing array of petals that shimmer above the water's eerie glow. The lotus soon forgets its murky past and becomes entranced in the illusion of flawless beauty. However, like a sailor lost at sea, the lotus eventually loses all sense of direction and purpose as the shadows of its upbringing stir into a violent storm that smothers all hope of perfection. How can the lotus still go on in spite of all the darkness it must live through?

III
The lotus flower, a universal symbol of purity, demonstrates the resilience and beauty of nature. In spite of its gloomy foundation, the lotus brings color and life to the world around it. Though it eventually wilts and its vibrancy fades, the lotus spends the remainder of its days sharing the last of its imperfect joy with the world, as it reflects on its journey whose quiet legacy will be told time and time again. Even after it is gone, the lotus lives on in new lotus seeds, which find their own way to bloom in the murky waters of the pond. And the beauty of the lotus lives on through each of our lives, which may be small, imperfect, and full of struggle to find a way in our clouded, murky world. The true beauty of the lotus lies in the beauty of life itself—in its resilience, its imperfections, and its ability to transcend barriers of time and even death.