"Now came still evening on"

This short duet for two soprano voices sets a snippet from Paradise Lost: "Now came still evening on, and twilight gray/ had in her sober livery all things clad." Its style is inspired by Orlando Lassus.

Nature's Gift

I wrote this poem and set it as an art song in response to news from the Iraq War at the height of the insurgency. 

Text:

"The metal birds will fly and bring with them/ bursts of golden butterflies/ followed by/ a million tiny metal men./ Maybe one will stop and look around./ He will see falling stars/ making tactful scars/ and spreading rose petals on the ground./ He cannot see this glory anymore./ So he turns to his brother to say,/ isn't this cliche?/ I swear I've seen this all somewhere before./ As water droplets turn the earth to mud/ those static waves continue turning;/ the stars continue burning./ Their sacrifice will soak the earth in blood."