Composition

Let the piano carry me away.
I’d like to wander in the music.
Every note is another stone
by which I cross these waters.

I tread carefully, because drowning
inside a song wouldn’t do much good;
best to dip my toes in one at a time
so as not to be severed from reality.

And then I hear it, her voice
descending the curved stairway,
lovelier than any instrument
as she calls my name. My name!

Of all the people here, it’s my name
she’s calling! Which lucky star was it
that decided to bestow its light
so liberally upon my grayish soul?

Even though the dust is now visible,
I find she isn’t turning to leave, but
getting closer. Her hands touch
the soot, sweeping all of it away

with the exception of the particles
that make me beautiful. My soul again
is black on white, and then I realize
the movements of her fingers

aren’t just meant to cleanse my soul,
but to play the song it was destined for.
The music I walked through was my own;
I only needed someone to teach me the notes.

Advertisements