Music Never Ends Poem by gershon hepner

The music never ends
but plays inevitably in the mind
and, having, stopped transcends
harmonics that it leaves behind.

The loving never ceases
despite inevitable weakness of the flesh
that always predeceases
epiphanies that keep the loving fresh.



James R. Oestreich writes about Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde, ' in The New York Times, April 23,1999 ('An Abundant Mahler Harvest Ends, Lingering in the Mind Like the Music') . He writes:

The piece trails off in Mahler's textual revision, with the word ewig (forever) extracted from the final line 'Everywhere and forever the distances shine blue') , sustained and repeated at hushed dynamics and widening intervals.

April 24,1999