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The composer chose this text because of its "human-ness". Suffering to a greater or lesser degree is common to all human beings. The present musical setting of these lamentations seeks to capture the wide range of emotions which Jeremiah must have felt grief-stricken, alone, ready to cry out, sobbinguncontrollably, and torn between belief and his circumstance. Indeed, the composer has sought to firmly root the listener's feet "in the soil" of life and let him or her feel sorrow in one breath and love in the next. Choirs mustcommunicate this array of juxtaposed passions to the listeners, who will understand and will know all too well many of these feelings. The piece ends in a sudden overwhelmg feeling of confidence and unleashed power in his Lord ("Domine") and the strength of that relationship in dlfficult times.

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