Instrument

I have my hands and feet for company —
A conversation of one —
While there is a cello to accompany
This chamber irreverberant and dumb.

A dry veneer will sound the deeper tone;
An air of nobility and gravity
Damps the fear and overwhelms the lone
Chaotic heart’s tumultuous cavity.

Pitch rises with frequency;
With irony the brightness has controlled
Poignancy in the depths of the hold,
And in the bass a darkened piquancy.

Solo companion, sit and embrace
This smooth neck, these sloping shoulders
Of resonant flesh whose curvatures are holders
Of ineffable solidity and disembodied grace.