Order and the Soul
We might have climbed to Heaven
on a rope of sound
listening to Ockeghem or
Victoria, back when choirs made
music of the soul.
………………………We might have got there
in a cell, deep
in austerity and stone
with the longing for light as a guide.
So much money
……………………has changed hands since then;
the Earth has tipped this way
and that, while souls
were pulled apart in the wind.
…………………………………………………Each morning
a mountain appears, made of light,
and the air fills with wings. As for
the soul, it has a hard day
ahead keeping time
with obligations, staying quiet through
the noise, and wandering
alone.
…………But it survives on scents
and colors, has an ear
for harmony, and sees order
in the rough and rugged way the pieces
of the world fall into place
after every storm.
David Chorlton is a transplanted European, who has lived in Phoenix since 1978. His poems often reflect his affection for the natural world, as well as occasional bewilderment at aspects of human behavior. These characteristics are evident in an upcoming publication: Reading T. S. Eliot to a Bird, from Hoot ‘n Waddle Press.
