another soul’s art
by Toni Stuart
another soul’s art - Toni Stuart
another soul’s art
she sips silent music
another’s soul alive in
nocturnal notes
a hand runs aimlessly along keys
grasps for a little more:
a new pang of pain, an answer
more tears
to wash old ones away
she sips silent
music walks
down
hairs
on her neck
bends
each strand
till her spine awakens
a learning licks her
skin stretched thin
a yearning yields
from plucked strings sighing
under savant’s fingers making them
ache for love
she sips silent music
without talking words
she hears her soul’s silence stride
inside
the blue oblivion and black light
a hand hankers rattles
pushes pain up
jostles joy up
worlds worm ripple through her flesh
raised in goosebumps
sometimes we close mouths
sometimes we speak
now her tongue thick long
swollen with words
falls
from between teeth
she sips silent music
a cobalt quaver cascades
from acoustic strings
weathered
leathered hands lift her from
ebony ivory keys
a smiling solemn sound
found shining life
an other’s soul alive in
nocturnal notes
she sips silent music
silent music
she sips silent music
unpublished poem, © Toni Stuart 2017, used by permission of the author.