THE STAFF OF LIFE
Masquerade
Music is more than notes — unmask it
When a child laughs, I hear Mozart — for all his sad end and the sadness no child will evade.
When waves break against the shore, I hear Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, nesting dolls of notes spanning eras of unwavering awe. When a bird sings, I hear The Lark Ascending — my soul submerged yet soaring in reverent currents of bliss unmasked.
When my third eye sings, I hear chants and carols materializing upon staffs of silence like stars emerging from behind curtains of sky urging me to guide others by enlightened example.
When Spirit hums – rest, rest, rest, my child — I nestle deeply into rippling blankets woven by Otis Redding’s softly woolen lyrics. I close my eyes and return to Madison, to the house on Lake Mendota where a bench awaits at the far end of the dock. Where the water’s depths reassure me
I am not wasting time.
©Jenine Bsharah Baines 2023
Every now and then, as they occur to me, I send my daughter updates to ‘the ghoul file’ — instructions for my celebration of life, which absolutely will take place outdoors somewhere beautiful. The file includes music I need to hear as I’m transitioning. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis will kiss me goodbye as I reach the other shore.
I so love this work that I once attended two performances of it in one weekend.
Otis gives Ralph a real run for his money, however. Eerily enough, he died in a plane crash over the ‘other’ lake in Madison, Wisconsin — Lake Monona.
Enjoy. Love.
Thank you, Diana C. and Spyder for the prompt and home for this poem and musing.
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