Those tender words is a poem of Rumi, the great Persian mystic. I had been wanting to set this beautiful text to music for quite some time. The harmonic inspiration that I just described allowed this to happen.
The piece is dedicated to the wonderful Riverside City College Chamber Singers, directed by John Byun, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the 2017 ACDA National Conference in Minneapolis. There, the choir gave the world premiere performance of my Alleluia, which is also published by Alliance Music Publications.