Sonata Allegro

I was born in music.
 Drenched in it.
 Before my eyes had barely opened,
I had heard the sounds of nature,
 voices, instruments.
    I knew the passion of pounding hearts,
    heated blood,
 the suspension of reason—
    I knew I could pray.

I knew the visible and the
invisible,
  frightening eyes and teeth, and
things that weren’t all that scary—
canyons and oceans,
hopefulness, love, kindness,
  and being held among the stars—
I knew all that when my mother
first held me at her breast.

Music lifted me thousands of times,
carried me on its harmonies,
  propelled by its rhythms—
and there gratitude and humility,
   romance, children, brothers, and friends;
  the patience to listen,
  pushing limits and pushing back.
I have fallen often.
   Beethoven and Nielsen saved me from
  madness.

Before I was born,
 I saw an entire universe
made of Mystery.
The soul has its own eyes
   that sees what our light filled eyes
cannot see.
This is fair, is it not?
Aren’t we born to be seekers
      of light we cannot see?

I can still hear the music I heard
from before my time in the
womb.

Wherever there is music,
   there is Prayer.