The Broken String...

Softly, smoothly, the notes rolled on

Unbroken, unhindered the music flowed.

Melody, perfect by its own nature,

Picked up pace and again slowed.

The strings, all of them finely tuned

Each when plucked promptly released,

Their own unique quavering tune…

And the day’s pain gradually eased.

Discord rang out amidst the harmony

Twang! Emerged a discordant note

Abruptly the steady music ceased to play,

A single broken string the fatal root.

My fingers stopped on the remaining strings,

Frozen in the middle of playing.

I felt shocked that such a thing could happen,

The notes of the glorious melody slowly dying.

I gazed at the five whole strands of steel,

I gazed upon the one in pieces,

I gently brushed the now incomplete set,

My mind blank in the music’s recess.

I sat transfixed, frozen in the spotlight.

The hall filling with growing whispers.

I sat clutching my guitar in the middle of the stage

The crowd as unreal as a host of specters.

I got up slowly and bowed low

The instrument still gripped in a tight claw

I felt cheated by the unfair universe,

I demanded justice, deserved some law.

As I left the stage to smattering applause

My dream of triumph now down and reeling

I found my mind still curiously blank,

As if the broken string had also sapped my feeling.