It was the fall of 2020, when my colleague Dr. Greg Zielke asked me about writing a choral piece using the text of Psalm 13. Still in the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, this text seemed to perfectly capture the feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and hopelessness that we were collectively experiencing. The psalm does end expressing hope, almost defiantly. I sought to weave all of these complicated feelings into a cohesive musical whole.