Aria in a Perfect Moment

An ode that is essentially to time lost with people we once loved.

 

Master of Time, with your felt hat that lets you linger here, at the edge of a doorframe,

peer backward into summers past and see the clear skies

and pampas grass bowing respectfully to the singer

of an aria about patient love and hearts that declare victory when they come together. 

 

Master of Time, who Professor Teufelsdröckh recommended so highly, you hear,

in this moment where silhouettes are still plural, the aria not yet flattened by uncertainty.

You see, a heart is easily swain toward Mammonism and is pressed to sing “Vittoria,”

an aria about the purest of all types of love,

for profit instead of for the riches of passion.

 

In this moment the love is still enough. 

She, our wavering alto, does not yet yearn for more.

The clasped hands are yet enough, the smiles are yet enough, and love is yet enough.

Simplicity itself is enough on this day spent under the untroubled sky.

From that doorframe, Shannon is still Eden and Eve is bountifully blessed.

In time however, this garden will be burnt

and Eve will have accepted a serpent’s fruit into her belly.

 

Before the damning that would turn summer’s prosperity into a frozen desert,

and wrench the heat from hearts in the stillness and awkward silence of a wintery night,

there is still this instance where four shoes and four eyes meet and two lips,

duty bound by the laws of sonnets and of human nature itself,

make a pilgrimage to Zion and back again in an instant.

 

As instantaneous as a kiss, a moment ends,

and perfection falls victim to the constraints of time

which must pass for all but you, Master of Time.

As you gaze intently, this moment is a still frame,

a photograph as clear as the cloudless sky.

If it were possible I would wear your magic hat, Master of Time,

and stop time here forever.

 

I know that when this moment ends I shall sing an aria with great certainty.

 “Il mio cuore non gusterà mai la vittoria di nuovo.”

My heart will never taste victory again.

Reviews

[Nameless]

so beautifully put... it's so hard to believe that what was once the clear light of love can cloud over, never to return, at least not with that person. i look back at those moments sometimes, just like you describe in your poem, and want to huddle inside them forever, where sweetness reigns, and yet somehow find myself in this utterly other world, devoid of kissing lips. really, your poem can't be improved upon, you captured it.

[Brjden (Bridge-Den) Cre..]

See, where you admire my flow, I'm completely drowned by your depth and your words. You are a Jedi of Words Kenji!! Your clarity and imagination seems effortless, and coming from another poet, I know that it isn't as easy as you make it seem, but where some poets with your ability lose the reader with misinterpretations and "over-the-head" word skill. Your talent is finding that balance of creating an intelligent and original piece, but keeping the reader entertained and able to follow you through your work. I love it, and I envy your words! I gotta go study the dictionary so I can keep up.....Snapping my fingers in applause - Bridgey