I thought it was the flute
I wanted to play, but I found
that wasn’t it, so I tried
the violin next the bassoon
the dulcimer harp
but each one
gave out only one tone. So I played
on paints and windows and dough
and socks in a perfect array
on long-fingered carrot peelings
lacing the air like harp strings
in suspension tuned to the sky
and the trash can
until I found
I was playing the whole house, its ductwork
ringing every possible range
of whistling hues with a timbre
that rumbled my very foundations.
Who was it that first decided
for the music in their soul
nothing less would do than a whole entire
building? its highest sunbeams
and lowest throbbing foundations
and all the rafters between
resonating with song
so deep you will never hear it played
only because
like the spheres
you have never heard it cease.
The Organist
Show Comments ()
The latest from america
Frank Turnbull, S.J., a longtime editor at 'America' who died earlier this week, is remembered as a humble, quiet and yet forceful presence to those who knew him during his 85 years of life.
A Reflection for Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Zac Davis
Trauma-informed spirituality knows better than to promise that prayer will take away all the pain. But it can offer the hope that, even in the midst of pain, there can be moments of feeling whole.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Pope Leo XIV, who urged Israel’s leader to revive negotiations and enact a ceasefire.