Heat gathers, embers threading the skin. What is base loosens; what is true remains. In measured stillness the body meets the fire, tempered not consumed. Gold holds the afterglow, scarlet the work of change—a study in purification, presence refined to its bright, quiet core.

But who can endure the day when he comes?
Who can stand when he appears?
For he will be like a refiner’s fire,
like the soapmaker’s lye.– Malachi 3:2
Inspired by G.F. Handel’s Messiah
Listen
The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky
With Permission: 2013 Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Recorded live in Roy Thompson Hall, December 4 & 6, 2008 www.tso.ca
Listen to the TSO's full 2013 performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring:

