A Brief Dangerous Moment

      Let’s start again from the top.

      I enter on the third

      beat; you have to keep

      the bass line firm. It’s hard

      to hear the lute against

      the harpsichord, and I

      know I must have winced:

      the light was in my eye.

      Yes, I agree the light

      is very strong today.

      Your earring pearl pops out.

      Mine too? Our souls must be

      aligned. And Peter’s chair

      glows like the blacksmith’s forge.

      It’s odd we’re so aware

      of light. Eyes must take charge

      when music stops. I feel

      we’re standing outside time,

      watching a carousel

      to see if it will come

      alive again, or else

      we’re lost for eternity.

      That’s silly – feel my pulse:

      firm as the clock. And we,

      so solid and so full

      of life, won’t turn to dust.

      For each created soul,

      the preachers say, must last.

      Surely we’ll congregate

      in some form centuries

      from now, and will you yet

      be playing those heartwood keys?

      Let’s start again from the top.