Time is fast and time is slow. No matter how it feels, it continues.
It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since I completed my opus: “Requiem for a Stranger“. Time for a careful retrospective…
How Did I Get Here?
Sadly, the pandemic has continued. At this point, COVID-19 has killed over a million people in the USA while rapidly approaching seven million people dead worldwide. That’s hovering near double the death counts when the Requiem was released.
So, I will continue to grieve those who have died from this virus. It’s overwhelming if I add to that the wars, mass shootings, and other deadly tragedies* around the world. Still, I do what I can to honor the dead.
Stranger, but not strange
You may recall that Requiem for a Stranger is primarily a choral work. Though I chose not to use all of the traditional lyrics or movements from the classic requiem, it is a moving work remembering those who have passed on.
Because it is a musical work for singers, it also honors the living. Those of us who live on must grieve the people we have lost.
We must also find a way to live. Grief is part of living. But it is not everything. Let’s continue to find ways to sing together while we are alive.
Continue
Though there are still many in my region who are sick from COVID-19, we continue to consider in-person events again. There are challenges if we care about each other. But we make plans with extra caution. We hope that singing together will be much safer very soon. For now, we continue to sing for each other even when we cannot be next to each other. Blessed be.
* The gun murders in the grocery store in Buffalo continue this tragic saga. When will we stop killing each other because we believe the “other” is different? (This killing spree is literally too close to home.)
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