The everyday enchantment of musi

A rough sound was polished until it became

a smoother sound, which was polished until

it became music.

Then the music was polished until

it became the memory of a night in Venice

when tears of the sea fell from the Bridge of Sighs,

which in turn was polished until it ceased

to be and in its place stood the empty home

of a heart in trouble.

Then suddenly there was sun and the music came back

and traffic was moving and off in the distance,

at the edge of the city, a long line of clouds appeared,

and there was thunder, which, however menacing,

would become music, and the memory of what happened after

Venice would begin, and what happened

after the home of the troubled heart broke in two would also begin.

Mark Strand