This piece is an arrangement for cello and piano, of the second movement of a work by Elizabeth Knudson, originally composed for solo cello and full orchestra.

The second movement of the piece was inspired by a poem by Czeslaw Milosz:

“There is no one between you and me.
Neither a plant drawing sap from the depths of earth
Nor an animal, nor a man, nor wind walking between the clouds.
The most beautiful bodies are like transparent glass.
The most powerful flames like water washing the tired feet of travelers.
The greenest trees like lead blooming in the thick of the night.
Love is sand swallowed by parched lips.”

The movement takes its inspiration from a melodic fragment of a hymn, « Oh, Love, How Deep », attributed to 14th century monk, Thomas à Kempis. The music grows from these pure, austere beginnings into something warm and passionate.