Ensemble SATB with Piano

Available Versions SAB with Piano

Duration 4:45

Completed 2015

Text Amy Filipczak

Cost $2.50 (minimum order 10)

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The poem from which the text of this piece is derived was simply titled “Morning Poem 41” and was written by poet Amy Filipczak in what she knew was the final year of her life. Facing a terminal diagnosis, Amy, with encouragement from her husband, decided to express herself through verse and amassed a small of volume of work of which this poem is one excerpt.

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Knowing the context in which these words were written transforms them from a simple reflection on the beauty of a sunny winter day to a heartbreaking ode to the simple joy of a day spent with family and the mourning for the inevitable loss of that joy. We are all faced with that dichotomy of joy and sorrow, even if not with the same immediacy as Amy. However, like Amy, we can choose to live into the joy instead of the despair; to focus on seeing the sun, rather than the shadows it creates.