https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/turn/
Sextet: Return The Melody
ArtyBee53 (ChelleBee53)
Summary:
A poem I wrote many years ago, inspired in part by a true incident, and in part by “Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens.
1
“Ode To Joy” playing.
Birds outside my window
return the melody.
2
How much has art owed to joy,
how much to sadness?
Where is the line
between genius and madness?
Why must it return,
haunting me, taunting me?
Why must it return…
the melody of that song I loved
when you and I were we?
3
We sat in the shade in the park,
waiting for the sextet to return.
The melody they played before their break
was one composed by Bach;
their next set was mostly rock.
All the while they played, we clearly heard
songbirds gaily return the melody.
4
See Marie turn.
The melody of the ballet
pirouettes her.
5
The music has taken a merry turn.
The melody of an Irish jig
sets our clogs to dancing.
6
A single bird sings
outside my window.
I turn to my piano
to return the melody.