The Rest Is Silence (2017)

Winner, Cantate Chamber Singers' 11th Biennial Young Composers' Contest

https://cantate.org/

Roberto Ifill

The pause just before the last step you take

into the heart of the deep woods

the breath you hold as you plunge

into the spring-cold lake

the instant between the end of a lullaby

and the long awaited droop of a baby's body into sleep

the quiet sigh that envelops departing loves

just after they realize there's nothing more to say

the caesura between a decision and the act

if we could but string all of these together

we could make a profound music

so heavy with latent possibility

with such portentous restraint

that any sound that follows is superfluous

the preparation, the anticipation

- the readiness -

is all.