MELODY- WOMAN

With pen instead of piano,
I write variations to a life-song
that move as my words move,
effortlessly, like my melody-woman
in this poem who whispers
across the page and
sings to my heart.

Our music is jazz-like,
often muted, never entirely
predetermined or improvised,
but always with the depth
and beauty of consummate harmony.

The subtle but irresistible voice she brings me
is the foundation for my tone poems;
lyrical conversations with her
that are open like a turned page
for all to see and listen.

They can be neither
re-created nor re-invented,
embellished nor ornamented.
They are her reflections.
Like the image of her face
etched within her mirror,
they are beyond evanescence.

Beethoven took three years to write
over thirty variations of a composition
considered by his peers
to be predictable and unimaginative,
and by Beethoven to be trite and insignificant.

Undisturbed by time and captivated
by the elegance of simplicity,
I write endless variations
around my melody woman,
who was not only unforeseen and original,
but relevant and extraordinarily priceless.

If I had a contest
with a phantom Beethoven
to create the perfect composition,
I would surely lose, and so would he.

The crowning score
was written almost 60 years ago,
not in Vienna, but in a small town
in northern Maine,
without benefit of my efforts
or his genius.

Florine.

© JOHN PISCATELLA