Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE NOON ORGAN CONCERT, by EDWIN MCNEILL POTEAT JR. First Line: Ave maria, he started to play Last Line: In the babble of voices and patter of feet. Subject(s): Life; Marriage; Mary (name); Mothers; Singing & Singers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives | ||||||||
Ave Maria, he started to play And there went Mary, looking for Joe. He hailed his Mary his own sweet way -- "Hello there, Honey, I've missed you so." Largo, by Handel. It dragged a bit For the pushing, hurrying, hungry bunch That heard not a single note of it At twelve o'clock on its way to lunch. Look down, look down from your golden pipes And play the tunes of the restless crowd; Slow or fast as the shifting types, Strident or tender, muted or loud: A tune for a man whose wife is late, For a loafer killing an hour or two, For a harlot there for a casual date -- All day long with nothing to do; For a mother leading a wailing child, For a shopper who haggles and never buys, For a happy urchin, dirty and wild, For a thief with furtive fingers and eyes; Play a rhythm to cheer, and a blast to warn, A lover's rapture, a haggler's plaint, A dancing air on a golden horn, A prayer for a sinner, hymn for a saint. The music stopped; and the air replete With the babble of voices, the patter of feet, Swelled with a symphony all its own, Careless of melody, heedless of tone; But more to the mood than the pipes of gold, And truer to life, and as manifold -- Life with its lyric and song with its beat In the babble of voices and patter of feet. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BLESSING FOR A WEDDING by JANE HIRSHFIELD A SUITE FOR MARRIAGE by DAVID IGNATOW ADVICE TO HER SON ON MARRIAGE by MARY BARBER THE RABBI'S SON-IN-LAW by SABINE BARING-GOULD KISSING AGAIN by DORIANNE LAUX A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV ORISONS by EDWIN MCNEILL POTEAT JR. SONNET TO THOSE WHO SEE BUT DARKLY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON |
|