Into the Silent Land - Approx. 8" x 11", Ink Drawing - 12.17.2019

The Gustavus Wind Symphony (St. Peter, MN) conducted by Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller, recently performed "Into the Silent Land" by Steve Danyew which "communicates the composer's feelings following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, when 20 children and six educators were killed by a gunman on December 14th, 2012.  Danyew, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary as a child, asks us to remember; asks us not to forget that this happened, not to forget these children, and not to forget the grief their families are left holding forever" (from the program note for the concert).    Danyew included the following text from "Remember" by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894).

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Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd;
Only remember me; you understand

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land.

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Dr. Miller's daughter Linnea read the text during the concert

The text stuck with me and I wanted to make a drawing about the excerpt from Rossetti's "Remember."  My drawing shows a little girl walking into the Silent Land, with the red in the foreground calling to memory the blood lost at Sandy Hook.