Listening to Prokofiev,
Chugging like a steam-train
On some high mountain pass,
And suddenly there's a picture of a girl
Leaning out the window,
Letting the hair blow - her long blonde hair
In a stream behind her
While in the background, we can just hear
The noise of the train, it's heart still beating,
But not so loudly. She smiles - the girl, that is,
Not the train, since trains tend to be gender-neutral,
Unlike ships - and suddenly the world stops.
The audience waits, holds its breath, or
Maybe lets out a little cough, and then off
The train goes again, slipping, sliding, now,
Without the energy it carried previously,
Making its way now through open fields and pastures,
Plains and valleys, no climbing, but birds soaring,
And animals: cattle, sheep and mountain goats
All leaping and prancing and carrying on as if the
World was about to come to an end - celebrating,
Not mourning, knowing that the end of the world is a
Moment of great exaltation, a moment when all the
Beings that have been, and all that are, will join in the
Greatest and liveliest dance ever experienced,
Knowing that no more death exists, that no more
Pain, no more suffering, no more slaughter.
And then there's quiet: a peace passes through the
Bodies, as they saunter casually, easily wending their
Way through the world that's been left after the world
Has ended: the new world, with its new heaven.
A bird shrieks more than once, and now, down from the mountains,
Rain scatters and drips into the valleys, and the rivers below soar,
Rising to meet themselves falling from the skies.
A great caucus of water falling and rising, leaping and prancing,
And rivulets, dancing, scatter along the hillsides, excited to meet
Their bigger brothers and sisters sweeping through the valleys,
All speeding to meet at the sea in a great crash of waves and river,
And soon the sea, too full, will send the water skyward, to make a
New play and men, women and beasts will lift their heads and rejoice
At the rain; no more afraid, no more umbrellas, no more shaking their heads
At the wet, no more concern for their clothes, no more waterproof garments,
No more galoshes and gumboots, no more plastic overalls, no more anything
To come between them and the rain, God's great water smattering across the
land,
Moistening everything.
An interruption occurs: the music's ended, and loud applause breaks out
And the announcer burbles on about what we can't see. The music isn't
Allowed to keep on speaking, but is dissipated in the 'thunderous applause'
'stomping of feet' 'delightful smile' and 'mammoth effort.' |