The Divine
        for A. J.

I cannot sing but I can listen—
the voice of notes reaching and stretching,
testing the muscles of what sound can be,

should be if we were only ear, only hearing
clear and transcending the clamor of city streets'
rough malodorous push and shove, the traffic

of life's be there-should have been-yesterday-
tomorrow morning,... but if the night
were the warmest cave, the primal blanket

to layer and comfort our tired feet, to feed
a flame of shadow and light together,
then pure, yes, pure tone would be the echo

and resonance, the neverending claim to live
in the lasting growl and coo of her voice
as "My Funny Valentine" fades and never disappears,

as the final note possesses Sarah Vaughan, possesses us,
documents the sound we should define as pain,
as regret, as love and loss, as human.

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Copyright © 2017 Jon Tribble All rights reserved
from And There Is Many A Good Thing
Salmon Poetry
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission