Consorts for a Summer Evening
Glowing orange, pale lime, wine-dark red,
black mystery, and gleaming polished wood –
this was the well from which the music poured.
Ears open – some informed, some not –
but if you closed your eyes to this most pleasant scene,
Listen – and see the court, the gowns, the rapiers,
and watch the gambas play.
They speak now as they spoke,
directly to our trembling hearts.
Pulling the strings, the bows pull us
into that time, and move us,
as those listeners were moved,
to joy and tears.
Lari Smith