This piece is a modern adaptation of a melody by Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585), one of the most important English composers of the Renaissance era, known for his sacred vocal music. The lyrics are adapted from a poem by Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672), who was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and the first woman to be published in the Puritan colonies. The original Tallis melody is likely from his extensive body of hymnody, adapted here to frame Bradstreet's metaphysical poetry, creating a bridge between two distinct periods of English artistic expression.