CHOIR REHEARSAL

Posted 1 June 2012

We are all a little less
than we would like to be
in our workaday clothes
cumbered with bags and spectacles
with thermos flasks.
We shuffle our scores
we cough and chat, dispute
pronunciation...

            but as the lovely arpeggios climb
            soar, and resolve themselves
            in shining cadences
            we are more than we are
            we are avatars -
            we are singing up there with the seraphim
            with the ranked choirs of angels.

We are more than ourselves
until the blessed requiem
dies away in peace
the last notes fall
and are stilled
under your serene hand.

©Jane Abrahams
March 2011