My Quiet One is a short drama for soprano, tenor, clarinet, and string quartet that explores the healing virtue of sorrow. Through the voice of the tenor, it invites the listener to separate an experience of grief from any shame, guilt, or regret that may accompany it, and to create intimacy by sharing that experience of grief with others. I hope that any listener caught in the midst of sorrow will receive the revelation of worth expressed by the soprano, and say with her, “My eyes overflow with jewels. I will lavish them on the shoulder of someone I love.

Text (by the composer):
T: 	Still so quiet…
	Why not weep?
	When we were children,
	A bruise was reason enough
	To cry and cry, 
And ask to be held.

S:	How quickly I learned to lament my wounds
	With secret tears, and quiet cries.
	Now, sorrow crushes my heart,
	And I cannot weep.

T:	My quiet one,
	Are you ashamed?
	Shame is not as fixed as you believe.
	When sorrows flow,
	They sweep away every trace of shame.
	
	My quiet one,
	Let sorrows flow.
	Let sorrows sweep away every trace of shame.

S:	My eyes overflow with jewels;
	I will lavish them on the shoulder of someone I love.

T, S:	My loving one,
	My beautiful one,
	Will you weep with me?

Performed by:
Caroline Jamsa (soprano)
Jens Ibsen (tenor)
Colleen White (clarinet)
Audrey Lund (violin 1)
Michael Fleming (violin 2)
Celka Ojakangas (viola)
Ramsey Sadaka (violoncello)

My Quiet One

Daniel Daly