Listening To Beethoven's "Emperor'' Concerto Poem by Daniel Brick

To Mitsuko Uchida

The music is quiet now.
It's the slow movement,
an "adagio, " not that phoney
"andante, " the real thing
this, and Mitsuko Uchida places
her fingers on the each key
with utmost precision
And we are convinced of its
rightness. We are persuaded
to follow her with slow thoughts,
to seek a peaceful mood,
like a summer day under a blue sky.
An image in opposition rushes
through my startled mind:
Herakles's Nessus-shirt,
infected with poison and jealousy.
I put on the cloth of sympathy, and
all is well again. It is so easy
to be a god doing good: to create
an expanding circle containing us,
and this music is the thread
that connects us. I feel I could
listen forever to Mitsuko playing
this music, slip into eternity
on the slow motion of this adagio,
sink into joy and remain there
with the others around me, strangers
no longer because Beethoven's music
relates us each to each. The pianist
slows the tempo, she will let this moment
of accord stop. I pull the cloth of
sympathy tightly against my body.
Mitsuko's right hand is raised.