the truce between sound and noise

today, it started at nine forty-five
the daily concert
gray skies, clouds quickly changing
their harmonies, and patches of blue
counterpoint seen through my opened windows
the piano top too was lifted…
the program started with Bach
Italian Concerto
light, airy, baroque picnics
on linen covered grass
next the Papillons of Schumann
butterfly miniatures,
perfect flowers of every nectar
and tonality
somber Janacek closed
the forty-five minute recital
a sonata in two movements -
presentiment and death -
the raw emotion of e-flat minor
strong enough to rip tears from the stones
of the street where a single working man
was killed for differing beliefs
on the first bleak day in october, 1905

no applause ever meets my daily concerts
yet the street always quiets instantly
traffic seems to re-route itself
horns seldom blare, in or out of tune
children take their rhyming songs indoors
and the other electronically reproduced music,
usually heard through other open windows,
stops for these moments
of the magic sounds I create…
I know not who listens
but their silence
four floors down
accompanies them
and lets me create a truce
with everyday noise…
for me, that is enough praise




         the truce between sound and noise
         29 may, 2006
         (Poetic Paradise Daily Challenge)