You Are My Sun (If Only)

I am always searching for new sources of poetry for my vocal and choral music. When I was in my first year at TCU, I connected with a girl who lived down the hall from me. Her name is Alexandra Ameel, and she shared with the dorm that she was selling a self-published collection of poetry entitled “Forget-Me-Not,“ and I bought a copy to support her. The day I received the book, I sat down to read her words, and I was immediately drawn to how succinct yet powerful her poems were. They were relatable and written in a colloquial style that felt like she were speaking directly to me. She writes about love, loss, growing up, and ultimately what it means to be human.

Reworked for a mixed choir, You Are My Sun is a heartfelt plea and an attempt to make a person aware of how beautiful they are. The piano accompaniment is an ostinato with slight harmonic or rhythmic variations to reflect how someone might try numerous ways to convince someone of their worth but fail. So they will try again and again, framing it in different contexts to express the same message. Because Ally’s poems are intimate and personal, I tried to let her words speak clearly in my settings of her poetry. By now, I have written six art songs using Ally’s poetry, and it has been an absolute joy to collaborate with my friend on these projects. Three of these songs form a short song cycle, entitled “Selections from Forget-Me-Not.”