Music
They came for the music
They were not a collection of strangers
They were not strangers at all,
A small gathering made known to each other
Returning again and again
Over the years
Returning through their love for each other
And by their yearning for the music
And that made them family
Day laborers
Artists
Amateur cooks better than any professionals
Nurses
Lawyers
Writers
People who knew how to frame a house
People who knew how to command armies
And did
Soldiers then
Soldiers now
And still others of unknown skill and wisdom
There was no common age
No common dress
No common way of life
No common way of thinking
There was only their common want for the music
And the uncommon current of their laughter
They sat in shade and sun and heat and rain,
Not caring about what was happening in any world
Of their knowing
Except this one
Here
Now
By the river in the sun
For one bright weekend they sat beneath giant trees
Made large by the flow from a crystal river
Made emerald by the sun
They sat on lush grass
Beside babies sleeping on blankets
Cushioned by the beating heart of Earth,
Knowing that all babies, somewhere, sometime,
Should sleep next to the soft pulse of Mother
The rain
Gentle, caressing
And then more insistent,
Drumming softly and rhythmically on the canopies,
The sound an underlying applause beneath the music Sent from some higher place to please and compliment The musicians
There was no wind, the rain coming straight and true
To the people and the music
As the music came straight and true
The music
The music was clean, clear and cleansing
It stirred the souls of any within hearing
There were no lights, no costumes, no flashes of emptiness Having nothing to do with music
This was pure music, picked from mystic strings,
Tumbling down into the people as from some garden
Of pure joy
Sung by voices unheard in concert halls
Sung by voices unchanged by any artificial hand of man
The players ended their playing and then sat with the audience
The musicians were the listeners
The listeners were the musicians
There were no opening acts
No stars following
All were stars
All shone
The music began midday,
Ending when sheer exhaustion called a halt
And people dozed against each other's shoulders
But one day was not enough.
Some came early, the night before
More coming each year
Gathering around an open fire
The music coming as it would
The talk filling the open spaces
The last day came and went
And still a tiny group lingered,
The family smaller, now,
Sitting almost quietly in the warmth
Of another bright morning
Unwilling to let it go
Unwilling to let it end
The music
By the river
LM