The Concert

 

The harpist believes there is music
in the skeletons of fish

The French horn player believes

in enormous golden snails

The piano believes in nothing

and grins from ear to ear

Strings are scratching their bellies

openly, enjoying it

Flutes and oboes complain

in dialects of the same tongue

Drumsticks rattle a calfskin

from the sleep of another life

because the supernatural crow

on the podium flaps his wings

and death is no excuse

--Lisel Mueller

[Photo of my favorite musicians].