Length: 9'05

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Composition Date: 2001/02

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Commissioned: Pro Coro Canada and the Alberta FOundation for the Arts

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Premiered: by Pro Coro Canada, Richard Sparks conductor, on Sunday, January 27,

2002 at The Francis Winspear Centre for Music, Edmonton, Alberta.

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Text by Andy Northrup

In traffic, I forget you, for hours at a time

so lost in the confusion of the pace.

Frantic revolutions of the rides that I endure,

the pointless toil to which I am enslaved.

Home and hearth are sullied by the pierce of youthful din,

the nerves that need a tonic turning sour.

Exasperated promises of retribution's sting

are broken by the newsflash of the hour.

Perspective, were it granted, might not give the clue desired

but at least there'd be resistance to these clouds.

The turmoil and the panic welling in this parent's heart

Would just perpetuate if spoken of aloud.

But then I get to hold you while you're nodding off to sleep

to dream of only good things that you've known

Your innocent desires and your hope for better days

occasionally reminds me of my own.

And I'm blessed

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Score Excerpt