Legato

Late in life I start to tune
this instrument I’ve carried all my years.
Its healing and its power
fill me with surprise.
Words so seldom get it right,
more often in the way.
Singing only notes,
my instrument lifts with the flutter of wings.
Learning how
to get out of the way,
I let my instrument play,
tying together the musical notes.

As my body links without a hitch
the voice of the girl I was,
with the voice of the woman I am,
I surrender to legato.
As my day without a glitch
ties my meditation in the morning
to my evening cup of camomile,
I learn to live so yoked.
And when I move legato
between the poses of Tai Chi,
the practice becomes a singular flow,
I’m gone into the joining.

A veery sings no other way.
moving smooth from sound to sound.
I’m giving up gaps between the moments,
moving fluid, rippling.
The music of my instrument
is teaching me to sing my life legato.

            ©Susa Silvermarie 2024