Ian Keith Harris

This work was completed in April 2006, and is dedicated to Jennifer Paull, for whose enthusiastic encouragement I am most grateful.

The Aurora Australis is also know as the Southern Lights, and is a phenomenon which has its counterpart in the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere. Although auroras appear in many forms such as pillars, streaks, wisps, and haloes of vibrating colours, they are most beautifully magical when they appear as pale curtains floating upon a breeze of light. These amazing displays and formations are produced by the solar wind. A stream of electrons and protons comes from the sun colliding with gases in the upper atmosphere. Earth's magnetic field channels these electrical discharges towards the poles, releasing the various scintillating shows of tinted hues of light visible in the night skies. In modern times, with the cities in both hemispheres so flooded by electric lighting, the auroras tend to be lost from view.

This piece refers to a particularly happy earlier time for me in Hobart, Tasmania. The future looked bright and everything seemed to be perfect. My wife and I watched the Southern Lights together in the twilight, and felt at peace with the world.

Ian Keith Harris
2006

Amoris scores are exclusively available in traditional bound format with global postal distribution and secure payment from Crowther's of Canterbury. Our full downloadable library is being prepared.