The Glory in the Choir



Have you ever been

In the room

To sit

Almost to rest

To hear holy music



The singers

Other instruments

Our happening

Ticketed

Or happenstance

To Be there

As

A live performance

Shall we say



Have you ever got

To listen

In the room

For I have not



I have either been

Singing with

Them

Too

Or heard it

From the TV

Radio

Or disc



Oh

Dear

What I have missed



I mean

Being inside of it

Is grand

Where there is

A mingling

Of discipline and joy

Concern

For pitch

And complementing others

Trying to watch

The director

Not for approval

But a downbeat



So there is

That limitation

If to call it

Limitation

I don’t get to be out there

Simply

Not minding my place

For where I am

And who I am

Is challenged not

To matter



There simply

Is the pulse

Of the music for

A heart

No Tin Man

Should object



For here it is

We’ll stay

Our hearts are here

Listen

The notes are vessels

Sound is circulation

What we see

Can matter

Too



Shapes in the shadows

Unselfconscious

The light is dim

Here

While the light up there

That’s where it has to be

And really

Where

The glory is

For us



We can pretend

Maybe

In dim light

Or starker shadow

What we hear

That’s for the world

Might or must

Also be

For us



C L Couch





Photo by Dieter K on Unsplash