as one, the instruments are raised

slowly, at first, the first demure notes

intone the beginning of an elegy.

the sonorous sighs

of a deeply harmonic melody

swell within my chest. 

flutes and clarinets work together

pulling like the tides,

ebbing and flowing,

gaining momentum as together

they approach the zenith, the peak

the trebles and basses together as equals.

my heart pounds along

with the beating of the drums.

my soul quakes with

the rhythm of the timpani,

so powerful, the sleeping giant,

awakened by the mallet.

i burst with joy

as the brass coax the winds

to a final, exalted crescendo.

the music surges through me

the trumpets and tubas dance a mighty duet

fighting to be heard above the melee.

the music takes me above the clouds

soft as angel wings on the breeze

impassioned as a newly wedded bride

the strains of the flutes remind me

of days long gone,

memories of dissonant past

promises of a symphonic future