Here is a lovely, nostalgic set for voice and trio of reed instruments, based on poetry of Amy Lowell (1874-1925). Specifically, it comes from her « 24 Hokku on a Modern Theme ». Nowadays we call these short poems « Haiku ». She was interested in things Oriental, and it is possible that some of the collection are translations from Chinese. But it doesn’t matter. I have selected 12 of them and put them in an order, played without a break, that tells a story of flowers and lost love. The Haiku are vague, and so is the story – all perfectly appropriate in my view. As an example, here is #6 (from which the title of my work is derived):

Watching the iris,
The faint and fragile petals–
How am I worthy?

The accompaniment consists of 3 double-reed instruments, which I felt was perfect to express the loneliness of the lines, especially the English Horn which I have always loved for it mournful quality. And as I was writing, it occurred to me that the bass clarinet would work too, in place of the bassoon. I played bass clarinet half a century ago when I was a student, and I love to use its rich sound wherever I can.