The piece represents a young mind descending into that state of semi-consciousness we all experience as we fall asleep. They first look into a mirror and hate what is there, so they weep and pray to be transformed on waking in the morning. Strange thoughts and desires flood to the surface unbidden and uncensored as sleep ensues. Truths rise to the surface which, in a conscious state, the mind tries to hide. They dream of happiness and acceptance in the morning; a descent into sleep which ends where it starts, with a call for togetherness and a new start.

When I wrote the final passage I had in mind the painting Sleep by Salvador Dali, where a huge form is suspended asleep on slender wooden stilts.

This piece started out, during the first covid-19 lockdown in 2020, as an attempt to revise my BBC Singers commission Doorkeeper. It quickly took on a life of its own.