Aug 2021
THE EMPEROR OF NOW
robin in church
hopping from pew
to pew
a miracle
made real
its sheer joy of being
I hum Haydn
to its every step
Menuetto: Allegro
my little emperor
dances on the altar
it has become the music
it gazes at itself
reflected in the gold
of the tabernacle
a host of sunbeams
chase each other
little fishes of light
now robin
balances on the head
of the Christ
this the secret
prayer
of the moment
leaving me
bereft when
it finds the open door
*
Haydn's Quartet No. 62 in C Major, Hob. 111:77( Op.76 No.3) - the 'Emperor.' It's Menuetto: Allegro was the musical equivalent of its happy hopping through the sunny church....as if it was the manifestation of Haydn's notes. It was a little epiphany...a kindness given to me...this robin was my only religion.
When they were in Rome, Severn used to rent a piano and play Haydn for the dying Keats in the next room and Keats was delighted with it and said: "This Haydn is like a child for you never know what he will do next."
It was also accidently the soundtrack to my daughter's first tentative tottering steps...as if the music was holding up her tiny frame and propelled her along.
robin in church
hopping from pew
to pew
a miracle
made real
its sheer joy of being
I hum Haydn
to its every step
Menuetto: Allegro
my little emperor
dances on the altar
it has become the music
it gazes at itself
reflected in the gold
of the tabernacle
a host of sunbeams
chase each other
little fishes of light
now robin
balances on the head
of the Christ
this the secret
prayer
of the moment
leaving me
bereft when
it finds the open door
*
Haydn's Quartet No. 62 in C Major, Hob. 111:77( Op.76 No.3) - the 'Emperor.' It's Menuetto: Allegro was the musical equivalent of its happy hopping through the sunny church....as if it was the manifestation of Haydn's notes. It was a little epiphany...a kindness given to me...this robin was my only religion.
When they were in Rome, Severn used to rent a piano and play Haydn for the dying Keats in the next room and Keats was delighted with it and said: "This Haydn is like a child for you never know what he will do next."
It was also accidently the soundtrack to my daughter's first tentative tottering steps...as if the music was holding up her tiny frame and propelled her along.
