the ninth

Confusion drops from a shining hand,
Off its baton — the man
In charge has gone out without a score.
Dynamics pile up, and

Behind the caterwauling quartet
The chorus take a breath
And gird for their entrance afire
With adrenaline and sweat.

The lights have been left up; they can see
Our faces. Now belief
Becomes essential. High young voices
Crack, strain with desperate need

To make joy shudder this brutal hall.