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Concerto 2012
1.
There it was, completed
millenniums of toil
of merciless devotion
nights chained to manuscripts
an overture of silvery notes
a flourishing allegro
and finally a rain of sweet libretti
an opera, all harmony, an ode to joy
a growing repertoire luxurious
exuberant
2.
The pigs got in
broke through the hedge
dug into beds of tubers
snouts muddied all saliva
and snapping jaws
our composition a dripping graveyard
of half eaten torn pages
crushed and mangled
remnants of unborn masterpieces
devoured
3.
Outside in heaven’s chapel
floats a mute and lifeless relic, a warning
red desert baked by white hot sun
its melody of moisture boiled away
its eons passed in sullen silence
its music replaced by dry red sand
unpopulated vistas of
dune, rock and nothingness—
empty
4.
Into an airless ocean
the darkened depths of space
we sent a voyager, an ear
to parachute into the emptiness
a pipeline attached an antenna
broadcasting a stream of secret notes
gathering, gathering – its name
Curiosity
5.
The pigs got in
fighting each other
for food, territory,
killing and destroying everything
they called it ‘the Spring of Pigs’
cut the pipe that fed
all life and air to Curiosity
five minutes before they self destructed
their world a burning inferno
lighting up the sky in smithereens
6.
Across the indescribable reaches
imagined and eternal
something is growing slowly
inexorably
7.
A seed dropped from
a mud splattered snout
dried out, burned
almost unrecognizable
but somewhere inside, still green
a throbbing heartbeat
two notes repeating, tuning up
alive
© Johnmichael Simon
2012
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