I became involved in the AIDS Quilt Songbook when Will Parker asked if I would set the text “Perineo” for him to sing.  He stressed the energy of the poem and insisted that I set both the Spanish and English and that I “not hold back.” Will felt very deeply about the text, Roberto Echavarren’s fierce poem of life and the center of being.  “I hold out my now, empty. I breathe in my trust. …I breathe in my health… in and out…in and out.” This is a poem of will, the will to be, the will to breathe, deeply, from the ancient well of breath; to live and love and propel the spirit beyond the life of the body, even while the body is dying.  It is an honor to have collaborated with Will Parker and Roberto Echavarren on the indigo block of the quilt.