Music in a Child’s Eyes

A few days ago,

A child approached me and asked,

What is music?

I thought, and answered,

“Music is a complex

Arrangement of tonal

Frequencies tied together in a rhythmic pattern

To form sounds.”

The child walked away

Baffled.

I thought about the question,

For hours, I thought.

What is music?

I play no instrument,

I compose no piece.

I am no Mozart,

No Bach.

Tchaikovsky is not my bridge partner,

And Chopin is not my drinking buddy.

When I see others listen to music,

Their eyes flutter,

Their bodies sway.

There is a beauty that they see.

I feel

Nothing.

A few hours ago,

A friend came up to me and said,

Listen to this.

He brought me a recording.

It was of some violinist playing some famous piece.

It did not grab my attention.

But he insisted,

He said–

No, he commanded.

He commanded me to focus, to listen,

To understand.

Whatever that may mean.

So, I listened again expecting nothing,

Yet, when I heard that same violinist play that same famous piece,

My eyes fluttered,

My body swayed.

Beethoven asked me to play squash with him on Sunday,

Brahms invited me to his Tuesday night poker games.

Somehow,

In that moment,

I realized the beauty,

The romance,

The love

That is music.

I now saw the beauty that before

Only my friends could see.

I feel

Everything.