Commissioned by Virelai for their project of new settings of renaissance poems. The piece is scored for renaissance flute, lute, bass viol and mezzo-soprano. It is elegiac in tone; the lute provides a harmonic thread around which the other lines weave sparse counterpoint. Gestures are pared down to a minimum, the piece being, in effect, a study in understatement; the lute closing the setting questioning, rather than resolving the resignation inherent in the voice.
The work has been widely performed by Virelai and is recorded on the CD Sad Steps.