My dearest muse, your eyes are like the sun and the moon

Your voice like the angels, when you speak the world ceases to move

And nothing compares to the inspiration

I find in your room

Your Joy is my motivation

When you smile my heart sings

Your devotion to me is the sweetest caress

In your bosom is my bliss

Is our love as dear to you

When I’m away what do you miss?

Robert F.

This song was commissioned by Arias Beyond Boundaries, an organization bringing opera and classical music to the incarcerated populations of NYC. The text was written by one of the students of the outreach program. I was drawn to it because of its elegant simplicity, and the satisfying cadence of the words. Most importantly: I knew this piece was to be performed for the students themselves and I felt it was important to write something beautiful and tender to contrast with their stark circumstances. I am thankful to have gotten the opportunity to write for a program doing such wonderful, necessary work, and also for the chance to engage emotionally with a more sensitive side of myself that I have not gotten to draw from as frequently in prior pieces.