David Finkelstein

Tribute to music: With an open heart

The notes blend together, no longer distinct,

The melody is all that remains, a smooth blend of sound,

Touching the soul, and warming the heart,

As the mind taps out the beat, sometimes slow,

Sometimes fast, sometimes dancing, sometimes not,

All sorts of songs, all sorts of rhythms,

All pretty and layered, all filled with sound,

No matter the tune, the speed, or the number of notes,

Rather whether or not the player plays with an open soul or,

With a closed heart and an open mind, only playing to play,

To be there, to play, to get through the piece,

These people bore; they stop that beat, that wonderful, glorious sound,

They interrupt the golden, shining, personal paradise,

Their stuttering sound startles back the drifting mind,

And in looking around is seen, a fire,

Some people, and on the piano, a boy of under 10 years of age,

Trying as hard as he can, to get out those notes,

With at least a little heart, and a smile comes,

And the mind re-settles, into this new, unusual beat,

Because layered and trapped inside, of this of-beat sound,

Lies a bit of soul, a bit of heart, a bit of something nice,

An uncut gem, just lying in wait, for the chisel’s work to begin,

As the mind hammers out the notes, the heart and soul slowly awake,

And mold the melody, adding a hint of understanding here,

A small bit of interpretation there, slowly carving out the tune,

Until there is an open bending of the sound,

As the heart dives right into the blend and adds itself,

To hear such music is something special, and makes one feel as if,

One is listening to a radio set to heaven’s station, and the mind is free,

To wander where it pleases, through the clouds, right to the gate,

Where one finds whatever one feels one should find at this gate,

And where whatever should happen happens, as the outcome should,

And all the way, until the end, the music pursues the soul, as the heart stops,

And the mind shortly after, the music carries the soul up, up, and through the sky,

Into eternal bliss…

…Only to be awakened, and come softly plummeting down,

As the applause, so loud and alert, comes booming, such a sound!

And never to know, whether the others, went on this endless journey,

Up, and up and through the sky. ●