Sails Knife-bright in a Seasonal Wind

The composer writes: "Sails Knife-bright in a Seasonal Wind" is dedicated to my son, Tiernan, 4 at the time of the composition.  It took me quite some time to figure out why I felt that this was the case. His love of his guitar, half-scale and still quite enormous for him; his delight in watching people play, always receiving great praise from him, and probably most of all from his love of dance.  The piece is, I have come to realize in my work with Dan and Jeff, and Miranda is a passage through half sleep to dream, and through dream into dance and energy, and then from dream to the deep sleep.  

The title comes from poet Derek Mahon's 'Achill'

And I think of my son a dolphin in the Aegean,

   A sprite among sails knife-bright in a seasonal wind,

And wish he were here where currachs walk on the ocean

   To ease with his talk the solitude locked in my mind.