"Grand Pause"

Prologue

Let's begin with a steady pulse. . .

thump    thump    thump

Then add a deep growl. . .

thump    twang    thump    twang    thump

Later, we will bring in a sporadic, heavenly chord. . .

chord  thump twang  chord  chord  thump  chord  twang  chord  thump  chord  chord

And now, the voices. . .

In a season-less fit against your country,

we find you breathing on bended knee,

conductor to your fading fanfare;

Outside your cell,

Gardenias bloom a captivation, a smell,

a sonata to your  only free senses;

Here, we find you. . .

You who spent half-lives

waiting at bus stops,

    resting for a whole beat;

You who walked to battered beats,

swiping distinguished men's handkerchiefs

that bore mistress's monograms. . .

You who slowed to a cadence,

You whose conscience decrescendo-ed,

measuring up to your solitude

under these dark city lights;

Here, we find you. . .

You who now lurk

beneath an unknown omniscient,

   crawling over ruined thoughts,

rummaging through sharps and flats,

     trying to find the pieces of the perfect broken chord

midst the grime of this city's fingernails;

Here we find you starry-eyed to your nocturne that plays behind your aria,

the audience awaiting your grand pause

You bow