poem

Instrumental

The world is just music;

Driving percussive beats,

Lolling melodies, plaintive strings,

Surging piano chords, waves of sound.

But we want to make it a song

And we’re scrambling to write the lyrics

To soothe our programmed minds.

We can't help it, 

Language is fundamental.

In the woods, the wolves laugh,

They howl at the moon,

Howl their wordless verses.

Just dance, they exhort.

Sing without words.

This song is an instrumental.

Let words fall away like dust

From the mirror

Showing a face

That proves it's the mirror

That's cracked, not you,

That reflections are incidental.

Let words fall apart

Like the slats of a raft

You’ve bundled watertight flat.

But you neither sink

Nor walk on water.

You thrash, gasp for air, you swim.

The raft was always supplemental.

Fall away like steps of a stairwell

Half way up, which is just

Another way of saying halfway down

Which means you’re stuck in the middle

Where you were all along.

You slide or you crawl,

You figure it out.

It's just a ramp.

Progress has always been incremental.

Close your eyes,

Stop twitching your lips.

You’ll find yourself moving.

The rhythm is the sound 

Without meaning

That all the world must heed.

Once you hear the music it's clear

The dance was never accidental.

9/27/20