The Starlight Room by Lesley Valdes (Poetry ’15)

Adagio, ma non troppo

                         After Beethoven: String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Opus 127

Here it comes, that vein of longing from the violin

the voice that is most human. That ache

of presence and of looking back—.

Here it comes

that tenderness. And hope.

Somewhere I read he counted sixty beans to make his coffee.

I grind my careless handful and see him walk the outskirts of Vienna

in search of pastorals.

Impossible

to speak of one who lived without the platitudes.

A person should take music lessons

if for no reason than these opportunities for tenderness.

 

It is all a matter of hands.

Out of the mournful sweetness of touch comes love.

 

I shouldn’t have betrayed you.