Silent Tears

The text for Silent Tears was written just prior to traveling to Vietnam where my husband and I, together with our two daughters and my mother and father, would adopt our new son. While preparing for the journey, my new son's birth mother was always present in my mind - as I selected newborn clothes and blankets, as we prepared his new room with stuffed animals and a rocking chair. During all of this, I was ever aware of the fact that his birth mother and father would not be performing such rituals in preparation of a new member of the household. And so I held them both in my heart.

One night, just days before our flight, I was awakened with the words to this song. I searched for a recording device and spoke the words into the silence of the darkness. A few years later I set the lyrics to music and performed them at MacPhail Center for music as a voice student there.