Aria

Chatter subsides into silence in the elegant room
As the great man reaches for his violin
We had been promised this: a sharing of beauty;
A recapitulation of childhood experience;
A reward for staying alive; for surviving

He turns and faces us, gentle and reserved
Massenet, Thais, Meditation – he confides quietly
A whispered promise of gold from the vault
Already toying with our sensibilities
Already calling to mind the opening notes

And then the music - soft, seductive, sublime
Full of loss, of sorrow and regret
Of poignant memories and turbulent thoughts
Of anger and, finally, of resignation
Of time passing and the winds of change

And now the end, not one but two
The second one much darker than the one before
This aria without words, which ends and ends
And leaves us, too, in loss - crying out for more

© Declan Whitney 2018