I am a neo-classical songwriter, vocalist, and pianist. I listen to music from all over the world, and I am very eclectic. I mainly compose on the piano. I try to be minimalist with my musical arrangements so that listeners can easily capture my essence, like a cup of well-brewed green tea.
If I Don’t Love Your Eyes
Music by Chiye Kwon
Lyrics by Chiye Kwon
Piano, lead vocal, and harmony vocal - recorded & mixed by Chiye Kwon
©2025 Chiye Kwon all rights reserved
In recent years, my mind and heart were pried open by learning so much more about the history of the United States, especially about the ongoing cruelty toward minorities in the United States, especially black people.
Still, I believe in one of the American virtues: the ability and willingness to right the wrong. This requires humility. And faith with which we can hope that efforts to bring positive changes can nourish and heal all Americans.
On the other hand, if we don’t harness our impulse of hate, if we keep inflicting harm onto vulnerable groups just because they look and speak differently, our “songs” will become just “an empty bell. “
This song is a somber reflection of the past and a prayer for a better future.
If I Don’t Love Your Eyes
Prologue:
If I don’t love your eyes
Your brown eyes of earth and sky
If I don’t cup your hands
Your calloused hands, that toiled and tried
My song will be the sound of the shells
that rattle in the wind, only
whisper to the tomb
If I don’t love your feet
Your cracked feet, hard as the plow
If I don’t moisten your lips
Your parched lips, deprived of dew
My prayer be just the prayer of a fool
who doesn’t know
she’s howling at the moon
Fire and Storm:
I watched them burn from far away
(The night turned gray!)
I swallowed anything to live for a day
(Oh, hunger gnawed my soul!)
I searched miles for the railroad tracks
(hid for hours amidst haystacks)
Prayed for the darkness to shield me from men
Shivered in a thin cloth a dying friend left…
The end of the journey, or a beginning:
But I returned, I’m here, home at last
To hold you again
Homecoming:
The air is thick and serene
Poppies bloom, Magnolias lean
Turtledoves coo through the ravine
I kneel before weathered mounds
And close my eyes
Remembrance:
I remember your eyes (my eyes)
Your hands (my hands)
Your joy (my joy)
Your song
My song
Epilogue:
If I don’t love your eyes
My vow will be an empty bell
Its hollowness will fade in
to the night
Copyright ©2025 by Chiye Kwon
O’Keefe - Did You Love Your Fear?
I composed this piece because I admire the American artist Georgia O’Keefe. She is one of my visual art inspirations. Her landscapes, flowers, rocks, and buildings conjure something vast, daring, and humanistic inside of me. However, many times in her life, O’Keefe was filled with fear. It was a surprise because every time I saw her paintings, I felt empowered and open to the unique possibilities my brushes could invite. Had I been able to meet her at least once while she was alive, I would have asked her, “Georgia, did you love your fear? Did you do what you did even though it was difficult?” And I want to look into her deep-set eyes and say, “Thank you for your courageous gift.“
O’Keeffe - Did You Love Your Fear?
I noticed my wall’s color turning from
ivory to old lace
I watched a white-tailed kite glide in the
azure sky with grace
The picture near the window was by
Georgia O’Keeffe
A deer skull is hanging in mid-air
in dry New Mexico
I am in awe of the artist so fragile and daring
She stretched the horizon by her will
I am undoing my yesterday’s hue
Today is less uncertain like tomorrow’s moon
I am aware who and where I am traveling to
I am turning around
Did you become the sky you painted?
Did you open wide like your iris?
Did you hide your secrets in the furrows of your face?
Did you love your fear?
I feel in all of my senses that she is the lover
I whisper her name in the hazy dream over and over
We sit on the rock and watch weeds tumbling by
She hands me a sketch and I sign my name
on the scape of New Mexico
Copyright ©2022 by Chiye Kwon