A note to Orpheus

When the wind rises
           the tree sings
with the rustle
           and tremor of leaves
and as the wind subsides
           so the music is lost
to stillness to silence :
           then birds congregate
in its branches
           and the tree becomes
a temple to their song
           the tree that so longed
to possess a voice
           provides a haven
a home for these
           visiting choristers

And a tree knows
           that music is as much
about silence as it is
           about sound
it is about the interplay
           between notes and rests
between the black
           and the white and
between life and death
           all on a stave

John Lyons