"Peaks" is a strangely pensive, almost expressionistic song, that Ives at one point tore up but which was re-constructed from the pieces. The mood is lyrical and mysterious, with the vocal line drifting off into whole tone scales and the piano part built mostly from complex overtone harmonies descend. "Quiet faces that look in faith on distance, I will come to you and gaze upon that peace. I cannot tell if it be wind you see across the summer grain or the shaken agony of driven seas". The word "driven" is repeated several times with the voice cycling several close tones (a motif suggested earlier in the piano part), and one can feel the onslaught of the waves turbulence.

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