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The Orchestra Isn't Here Yet

The Orchestra Isn't Here Yet

 

Hush, be still, lay quiet for a time,

listen with attention to the cadence

of silence: its metre, pulse and rhyme,

the beating heart of aloneness. Latent

 

fire crackling as damp sticks thrown

on its guttering shocks mourners

with its desire simply to burn alone,

and snuggle into the furthest corners

 

of a used-up shabby furnace,

aflame with the Phoenix, new daughter

of the ashes. No time for curses,

no lamb meek to the slaughter.

 

No room for drama, save your skin

if you can, a fire suit's your best bet;

the new season's firesong's a comin' in

and the orchestra isn't here yet.

 

Christopher Hubbard

2020

◄ Endless

River Stone ►

Comments

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Chris Hubbard

Mon 24th Aug 2020 08:10

Thank you for your kind thoughts, Shifa! This is the sort of thing that keeps me going in the poetry game - in which I'm what Clive James once said was "a lifer".

Chris Hubbard
Australia

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Shifa Maqba

Sun 23rd Aug 2020 19:21

The orchestra may not be here yet, but you've hit all the right notes. Excellent piece! ?

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