How Can I Love?
How can I love
All of us
Without first embraces
From the ancient songs of sages?
The African drums,
The arched harp and rabat
That urged mating and soothed pharaohs,
The Pan flute, the Roman lute,
The Gregorian chant Dark Ages.
O Hildegard O Abelard
The lyrical uplift of body and spirit,
O Tallis and Byrd
O Palestrina:
The godly polyphony
That kaleidoscopes sex and soul.
The baroque formulas of mind
Math and melody
That entwine and vine complexity
Of hearts in harmony.
And lest I forget
Promethean romance,
Let love dance with
Beethoven and Chopin
In the global geographies
Of Dvorak, Smetana, Sibelius
And operatic nations.
Bring my love up to date
With Mahler, Rachmaninoff,
Britten and Bernstein.
Pop me in with all the folk
And rap up my love with a big violin bow.
To the cosmos thus attuned
I ring with timeless beat and tune,
Composing the warmth
Of symphonic love fires
To which my heart aspires.
May Haiku Hug
