Vivaldi’s Mistress
He carries music in his breath
from the vestry to her door,
still hearing damp drip
on altar gold, candles stutter
the shapes that he must make.
Cold sharpens his face, his fingers
numb from bracing chords.
Doctors tell him not to breathe
night-mists from the lagoon,
to grease his chest and bleed.
This city always draws him back.
A black prow peels the water,
sends fat slaps washing to his feet –
the sounds that he was born to
worn through the steps and piers.
He must slow the movement.
Drone bass as an undertow,
lead mutes on the drowsy strings,
lower g rising, insistent
as a face blanched in the water.
He taps their code out,
lets water-light move walls
muffled in gilt and brocade.
And where she waits in silence,
he gives his beloved sleep.
Page(s) 24
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