Nannerl on her Brother Leaving for Vienna
Posted: 10 Jan 2019, 06:47
Nannerl on her Brother Leaving for Vienna
Why should we worry about Wolfgang?
He will thrive in Vienna
like an earwig among meadows
of summer berries.
Oh, Papa, adrift
in this provincial dusk
of Salzburg, there is now
only us.
Vienna and Paris are as far
away as the tip of Africa...
the archbishop will never
permit you to tour again,
and what am I to do?
Teach piano forever to students
their fingers hesitant, blundering
through keys
the way a blind man
navigates a new room
filled with junk?
You once called me one of Europe's
finest musicians. And now you waive me off,
as if the trade off
of playing music with professionals
for marriage
is something any sane woman
would be grateful for.
I burst into loud cries,
like a songbird left behind
by her flock in a wood
of bare branches.
Why should we worry about Wolfgang?
He will thrive in Vienna
like an earwig among meadows
of summer berries.
Oh, Papa, adrift
in this provincial dusk
of Salzburg, there is now
only us.
Vienna and Paris are as far
away as the tip of Africa...
the archbishop will never
permit you to tour again,
and what am I to do?
Teach piano forever to students
their fingers hesitant, blundering
through keys
the way a blind man
navigates a new room
filled with junk?
You once called me one of Europe's
finest musicians. And now you waive me off,
as if the trade off
of playing music with professionals
for marriage
is something any sane woman
would be grateful for.
I burst into loud cries,
like a songbird left behind
by her flock in a wood
of bare branches.