for Mair and Anthony Elliot

The concerto keeps
urging

the other listeners
and me

to fuse
with its surging melody,

but I keep returning
to the pre-performance

moment
when I first saw

and silently married
the sixth cellist,

who—amid the mix
of sounds around her— 

slowly tuned
each of her strings

while wrapped
in pure

isolation.
 

Copyright © 1999 by Robert Johnson.