FOR THE LONELY
(Double Bass, Mid 18th century, Anonymous-Academia Museum, Musical Instrument Museum)
she has outlived her maker. more than three hundred years. her figure unchanged by this passing.
and did this maker understand as he carved, that this forest-like flesh, would outlast his own?
spruce and maple, her bowels, ship-like, with curves which mothered moans, blue as from a tenor whale.
her songs once set sail. navigating air which hung on noble feasts. palettes awaiting taste and tune. she can shake a room with vibration.
behind glass casing,
today she is silent, staring.
she has outlived her master,
and so will sing no more.