a version for bass flute solo was premiered on April 26, 2026
Greater Cleveland Flute Society annual concert
flutist: Kaleb Chesnic

photo: Reuters
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It’s October 10th, 2025. A ceasefire has been agreed.

A 10-year-old boy and his mother hear the news that quickly spread across their refugee camp. The boy is confused, but doesn’t ask questions. He is anxious to return to the only home he has known, his parents have known, his grandparents…

He doesn’t understand why there is an occupier force. It never felt right, or just, but it’s been like that all his life.

Without saying a word, his mom signals that it’s time to start walking. Soon they find themselves surrounded by hundreds of other people, all walking in the same direction. Nobody would imagine that this cease fire would be violated more than 2,400 times between October 10th and April 14th, 2026, almost 300 times in the first month alone.

They just walk. Home.

Hours pass. The boy is exhausted, looks at his mom and she looks back at him with the expression of someone that cannot cry any more.

All of a sudden, the area becomes familiar. They stop. The boy recognizes what seems to be his school, his friend’s house, the little shops in the neighborhood, the street he would take to go see his grandma...

But there is nothing there. The bombs have destroyed it all. It’s all rubble. But that rubble speaks volumes… It screams... It questions…

“It’s time to go,” the mom says. “It’s not safe here,” even though she doesn’t know where to go.

They just continue. Walking.