Lightning flashes,
throwing light on those who cringe
at the thought of death.
Written in the Spring of 2012, Illuminated Mortality is a piece for full orchestra. The piece is an illustration of a poem by Kobayashi Issa, translated by Steven D. Carter:
The piece is largely a very violent, thrashing piece depicting the lightning of the poem. The middle section is slower, calmer, and more introspective, with moments of both hope and despair, before it returns to the thrashing lightning to end the piece.