Borrowed Music

starting
with a
single
drum beat
pulsing
comfort
feeling
endless
feeling
one

Then thrown to the pit of
unrelated lines and foreign instruments
each following different tempos
each existing in different notations
each living in different keys
and all
demanding to solo
in cacophonies of
atonal
histrionic
uncompromising
arrogant
scouring
selfish
noise
a secret longing
for a lost
half-remembered
one

and you and so many will stay there
straining too hard to have your voices heard
with thousands of others
straining too hard to do the same

unless
an unfamiliar note causes you to

listen

and in that unfamiliar act you find
the note weaves its way throughout the discord
and once heard
it chooses themes
twines them together
strand by strand
creating harmonies you never realised
though they were there
to be found

and if you find that music
follow
let your self know the rhythm

the song is not for you
and never was
but we are given a few short bars
to join
belong
hear
and know
what it is to be
one

----------

This was written a while ago and I know what I was trying to do with it, but I'm not sure I quite got it. The structure (yes, there is structure) was meant to move from a simple heartbeat to sudden metric confusion (boy, did I get that part right) through to more of a calmness after listen.

The theme? In a nutshell (although there's a bit more to it than this), I think that if we would learn to listen -- really listen -- rather than forcing our own voices on everyone else, we might be able to make better music. Erm, so to speak. And as for the underlying harmonies... well, they are borrowed. The world, in the largest sense, functions with or without us. The song is always there, whether we're screaming above it or taking the time to try to actually fit ourselves to it.

I vote for the fit, obviously, but not everyone agrees with me there.