Friday, October 11, 2024

Not Me is the god who shows up when I pray

 

Not Me Swells like Mahler’s Symphony Number Two, the Fifth Movement


I am a flat line⎹ precise graphite⎹ mark on page


Not Me begins as nightingale flute call

to which a mourning dove sighs a reply

first solo, then duet of grief, then the full choir is mummering

now the strings are shedding tears, now the horns are wailing

now the whole orchestra interludes in ascending scales

climbing from whip-poor-will weeping to meadow lark’s trill

next organ interjects, holding onto a clarion hawk cry

finally, the cathedral bells chime their dawn greeting song




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Informed by “Mahler Listening Guide Symphony no. 2 in C Minor (“Resurrection”)”

Bettie Jo Basinger  https://utahsymphony.org/explore/2014/11/mahler-2-listening-guide/