The Price of Ambition (2023)

Commissioned by composer Melissa Dunphy. Score available through Mormolyke Press.

Performance by Voorhees Choir, Rutgers University, New Jersey (2024)

I wish
My body would forgive
My mind.
For one pushed the other
Too far.
And now my body rebels.
It bleeds.
It bleeds too much.
I beg it to stop.
But it won’t listen,
Because I didn’t listen.

And so I hold myself—
Tight.
I hold myself,
And wait.
I forgive myself
And hope
That slowly,
My body
Will forgive
My mind.
And we can be healed,
And rejoice—
Together.
And rest.