This piece is inspired by the music of the Sufi Muslims, particularly that of the incredible Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This specific work was originally conceived as the final movement of a set of three pieces, each a hymn without words, inspired by the devotional poetry of the Sufis, the ghazal, and the epic song form, the qawaali. Ghazals are characterized by their ambiguity of language. What appears on the surface to read like typical love poetry to a distant beloved is actually a larger metaphor of religious devotion to a God the speaker wishes to be completely united with. The Persian writers Rumi and Hafiz were masters of the genre. Qawaali are long-form musical settings of ghazals, many of which last up to an hour each. They have some improvisatory elements: there is sometimes an introductory section, featuring a soloist weaving a long lugubrious line, usually accompanied by a harmonium. Then, there are verse sections, lead by the main soloist, and chorus sections where members of the ensemble engage in competitions of vocal ornamentation. I tried to capture the formal structure of the Qawaal in this piece, with the long cello solo in the beginning, the introduction of the theme in the B section, and then transforming the theme into a dance-like rhythm in 7/8 where the players each take turns playing the refrain. The main idea driving this piece is the practice of devotion through music: to praise God through a transcendent musical experience, unflinchingly. The use of organum is to further convey the music's constant ties with the eternal, as well as to imitate the sound of the harmonium.