My chorale is singing this work. The words puzzle me. They seem to express the old 19th century notion of American Manifest Destiny and "the new promised land." There are references in "Night Song," where the music is soft and lyrical, to "burning pools of sulphur" and other disturbing images like "ash and dust to make new life." Does anybody have an explanation for this? I note the lyricist is David Grant, but I can't seem to find out which of many men by that name actually wrote these words.