requiem

[ictus]

& you waltzed allegretto into my life

[caesura]

& us commoners breathe in barcarolle

but you inhaled arias & drink oratorios

to make sure your voice never loses

it's mellifluous tremor that filled

concert halls with applause & roses & tears

[key change]

& it all came to a striking

sforzando, your hands flying away from

the fingerboard, staccato staccato

& the curtain fell & the lights dimmed

& i quilted a symphony from the vexations

that reverberrated as you kept time &

one two three, one two three

& i cry in c minor & let my tremolo anguish

crescendo, poco a poco until

[fermata]

you dance malagueña as i finger your final notes

& we fizzle out, diminuendo,

forgotten against the backdrop of

tombstones & star crossed love