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.