Did You Dream Franz?

by

Frank Valentyn

Oh, Franz
When you died
Of cold, starvation and fever
Your only inheritable possessions
Your greatcoat and guitar
Unrecognised in genius, unrewarded
In those last moments, did you dream?

Did you dream of your Schöne Müllerin
Whom I too fell hopelessly in love with at fifteen?
Did your dreams exceed those chill Viennese plätzen
Cafés with warmth-wafted blue cigar smoke
Promise of hot coffee freshly guiding you
Your urgent manuscript in hand?

Oh, Franz
When you died
That cold, starvation, fever
Were not the marks of poverty
But yet they were, branded ever in those souls
And in the trembling window and the snow
The silent door and quavering floorboards
Stiff shrouding curtains against a meager world
There were few human compassions breathing
Of love and of farewell

Did you dream Franz?
Could you dream that in two mere centuries
Stages would ring with the gnawing and smashing
Of instruments worth ten thousands of your guitar?
Did you dream
That some would recommend themselves in public
In their sensibility of excellence and duty
By how much music it is they wrote
Or state proudly that they could not read a note?

Oh, Franz
In that ease and fluency of vision
No doubt you saw an ulterior harmony
Felt immersed in the infinite melody
Springing from an infinite source
And true to that wellspring and its calling
Embraced that urgent course

NEXT?
Why don't you look at Memories
by: Angie Williams
from: Muncie, IN, US

To visit all of Frank Valentyn's poems, click HERE

Check out these deals at Amazon.com

...the best independent ISP in the Twin Cities

To write us about this page,
contact willy@dreamagic.com (Willy Chaplin)