Surrender

I pull my car to the side of Bell Road

because the soft voice on the radio

is explaining the music

and I want to understand Bach’s fugue

the way I misunderstand you

hearing in the words

a metaphor

meant for

me

 

across the road

a young girl in riding gear

is guiding her horse over jumps

in the small corral behind

the high school

 

as if you are riding toward me

rising with the horse’s steady gait

auburn hair in counterpoint

to bristles on the horse’s mane

 

this whole sunlit afternoon

has been quietly staged

as a reminder 

of that inner rhythm

the melody that’s never lost

 

I watch the girl in motion

as Glenn Gould plays Bach 

light and swift and in tune

we surrender to the moment

© Nick Power