it assaults you with
a barrage of sound

rising up out of silence
it builds greater each
second

each note comes a little faster
each lyric jumps eagerly to its place

the soul of players
the soul of listen
and
the soul of the universe
connect in that moment

no longer individual points
strewn across an infinitesimal space
now threads flowing across
and together across an even
bigger fabric

time and place meld
with each other,
people become one
long, continuous
face talking and
talking and
talking about
the meaning and the
purpose of it all
and never really
coming to a conclusion
but satisfying better
than any drink
or any drug

then the music begins
the break-
down

going from soft,
constant chords
to rapid, shifting
notes

up then up then up
then down quickly
then up again

building gravity
building tension

waiting to fall or snap
waiting to release and unleash
waiting to explode

but it never does

the music keeps getting louder
the tempo keeps getting faster
the beat keeps getting stronger
the song keeps getting bigger

then it falls apart

one instrument fades away
then another, then
another
till
all are gone

except the singular guitar
playing singular notes
trying to fill the empty souls
but they never can
and when that fact becomes
too clear for even the most determined
of players to ignore
the notes begin to slow,
the sound begins to fade,
and in the last few chords
the song barely sputters out
you can almost hear
the frustration
of all this effort
almost saving us
all