Conversing with Mozart: Tri

"What are you thinking?" I asked
for I was bored and found reading dull
just then, as the sun was falling

"I'm thinking of the people."

"What people, Mozart?"

He smiled, in a knowing way
his little secrets were his most
delighted in quality

"The people I played for."

I wondered of the royalty
the height of prestige
that sat before him
clapping demurely, once
upon that time

"Kings and queens I'm sure,"
I whispered
wondering if my art has
that power to stilt hearts

"Yes, there were those
but they were numb
to the jilt of notes.
It was the people of Praha
that crowded the streets
shoulder to ear to arm
they rejoiced in the sounds
and for them I was magnanimous."

"Only for them?"
I asked, thinking still
of capes and velvet

"It was all for them, dear girl
in the streets, on top
a darling city encased
in a greyness of hope
we met each other
the people and I
and I can't forget them
every little roundness of face
and the eyes that thanked the angels
those eyes that met the angles."

I feared he might cry
he was always doing that,
crying
when he thought of faces
for he too could not face
that they are gone
we are gone
he is gone
and yet barely here
in song.