Undertones
‘The trumpet does not more stun you
by its loudness, than a whisper
teases you by its provoking inaudibility’
— Charles Lamb
Does a speck of lint
make a sound when it drops
into a wastebasket?
I only ask because
souls are weightless, too,
flaking off traces of deadened thoughts,
sins, bruises, and abraded threads
of paths long gone awry
as they make their way
down life’s buckled corridors.
My ears are attuned and entwined
with the spiral of sounds
stretched out and taut
with the snap of catgut,
a string that resonates
with each shifting of sound.
Will a footstep be heard
in a snow-covered glen?
Will the leaves of crisp maple
intone in accord when the wind
draws its bow through their veins
in a pulsing of rhythm?
I grow fainter and lighter
as each thought is shed,
diaphanous as the snow.
Conjoined with the chorus of trumpets,
the deafening knock of each blast
carries me further, hammering footfalls
burying my prints soundlessly,
weightlessly, in mounds of dust
humming louder and louder
with the clarion roar and cry
I silently follow towards home.
Author of the debut novel Twelfth House, and Shaded Pergola, a collection of haiku and short poetry featuring her original illustrations, E.C. Traganas has published in over a hundred literary magazines including The Brussels Review, The Society of Classical Poets, Amethyst Review, Story Sanctum, Penwood Review, and others. She enjoys a professional career as a Juilliard-trained concert pianist & composer, has held over 40 national exhibitions of her artwork, and is the founder/director of Woodside Writers, a New York-based literary forum. www.elenitraganas.com
Amethyst Review 