2003
Natural Question
Composed by 
Paul Salerni
Paul Salerni Text by 
John Updike
John Updike Flora Song Collection
"Natural Question" is the fourth song of Paul Salerni's Flora, which sets five poems of John Updike.
Text
Natural Question
by John Updike
What rich joke does
the comically spherical peony bud–
like the big button on a gong striker–
hold, that black ants
crawl all over its tie-dyed tightness,
as if to tickle it forth?
–John Updike: Collected Poems 1953-1993, pp. 180-181
Audio
“Natural Question” (from “Flora”)
Debra Field (soprano)0:41