You Asked Me To Speak
"You Asked Me To Speak" was commissioned by the Kokopelli Choirs, Canada, and Artistic Director Scott Leithead. It was premiered in February 2015, at West End Christian Reformed Church, Alberta.
A companion piece to "Even when He is silent", the imagery reaches into the silence of the earlier work, which is the silence of shocked pain. It is a work where a friend tries to help another set out on the journey again, accompanied by the "always" of singing.
LYRICS
You asked me to speak; you asked
silence to speak, when my words
are the long unseen breath that sings
over your head when you yourself
have finished singing; my singing
starts with your silence, when pain
means your voice, for a moment,
cannot speak: my silence
falls into that gap, and singers
pick up the fragile thread
your blood weaves. I am
the wing touch of nothing.
My singing is your always:
I am your always, singing.
