– 46 –

Music withholding its theme

Late night radio: the melody hour
a sand drift of classics, a winsome breeze
but still so many withhold their themes

that come upon them in the early bars
and then are hushed. Save, save
their hearts of musical thrift whisper

and like the lesser gods of music they obey.
Better they were fools and gave it all away
and created anew from that magnitude.

Still it sends us into sleep: that theme
heard softly at first and then disguised.
Its subtlety makes us close our eyes.