Masterful Music: R.T. Legacy

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Commissioned by Waubonsie Valley High School for their "Meet the Artist" program. I wanted to write a piece that would have a broad appeal and connecting level for the audience. This text was written/compiled as a response to the September 11 tragedy. The text addresses the pain and loss of that event, but also the hope that America would and could rise above it, and continue her quest to be a place of hope for all.

I have a dream

I have a dream

that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men and women are created equal;
I have a dream, a dream of flaming towers and noble souls
we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain,
I have a dream
that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom,
and that government of the people,
by the people,
for the people
shall not perish from the earth.

I have a dream, a dream for all the brothers and sisters of the earth,
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles
I have a dream
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
I have a dream
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
I have a dream
That this nation
These truths
Shall not perish from the earth