Elegy, by Sandra Fees

​Elegy
 
as if the piano
loosened the power
 
of god-breath to shatter
like a crystal chandelier
 
into this belly-releasing
crush and groan
 
as if the hum
of ice-lament
 
this artic elegy
unhooked the glacier
 
descending in beauty
across the cold keys
 
of time’s shoulder
crowding the mountainous
 
white sky with awareness
as if a platform
 
afloat a steely
churn of sea
 
and a man nimble-handed
alone searching his life
 
equipped with a concert jacket
and life preserver
 
might break barriers of sound
to calm this ache
 
and call back
the calving iceberg
 
as if his lush chords
must have been born for this.

Sandra Fees

Sandra Fees is the author of two chapbooks, The Temporary Vase of Hands published by Finishing Line Press in 2017 and Moving, Being Moved by Five Oaks Press also in 2017. She resides in Reading, Pennsylvania, and is 2016-2018 Berks County Poet Laureate. Her poetry is forthcoming in Michigan State University Press’s Poets Laureate and Social Justice Anthology.

Youtube: Elegy for the Arctic, by Ludovico Einaudi (Italy). 2016.