Harp Escape vol. 6 video is a song I composed called, “Slowly, Falls the Snow.” This song is about difficult good-byes. About seasons changing, and seasons of life changing.

I wrote this song while working as a Certified Clinical Musician. One morning when I was playing therapy harp at the bedside for a client, this song came to me. I had visited this person a few days earlier. They were on hospice, and after two weeks, they were still holding onto life, even though they were very near death. I wasn’t even sure my patient would be alive when I arrived. Loved ones and caregivers of this person said they appeared to be struggling with letting go.

It was the end of winter, and the very last cold days were hanging on. We had a rare snow that reached the lowlands, and it would certainly be the last snow before spring. Outside the window were evergreen hedges with bright, white snow glistening on them. Under the sun, slowly, the snow fell melting.

As I saw this end-of-winter scene and my client in bed in front of me, this song entered my hands on the harp. Letting go of something takes a great deal of patience. John Quincy Adams said, “patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”

Perhaps the ultimate perseverance one human can offer another is to patiently wait for them to die, to do so at their bedside, and be present for them. Sometimes, there is a glimmer of peace in observing the difficult thing, and finding special beauty there.

It seems slightly ironic to write about snow in summer. At the time of writing this, the Pacific Northwest has just endured a record shattering heatwave. Just thinking about snow is cooling me off!