A Poetic Reverie Inspired By Music, Part Three Poem by Daniel Brick

Symphony No.8 by Anton Bruckner

IV. Finale. Feierlich, nicht schnell
The Journey Continues

Toward the end of every journey,
there is a hastening. We don't
plan it, or even think about it.
But in our minds we are already
standing in the place of achievement,
inwardly crowned with a laurel wreath,
and beginning to unfold the long parchment
of a new identity. Or of an old identity
renewed, glistening in raw light of the end.
Do you remember the joy of Tobias
when he rushed down the final lane
of his journey, knowing he could restore
his father's sight when they were together?
And Tobit exclaiming when he saw his son,
'Oh, my son, you are the light of my life! '
And we can only imagine how Chaucer's pilgrims
hastened down the road into Canterbury,
with a carillon of bells announcing their success.

We sense the season's changes include an atmosphere
we have never felt, or we are puzzled by birds
arrayed in strange feathers, singing an alien song,
or we stand before a vast horizon that fills our eyes
with a fear of distance. Have we really come home,
or have we rushed into a new place we only thought
was home, deceived by time and space, as we approached it?

We know the performance is over. The finale was glorious,
with eighty musicians playing the last measures fortissimo.
We watch the conductor close his score, drop his baton
and turn to the audience, standing in ovation. Perhaps
the ghost of Bruckner hovers nearby, well-pleased
by belated success. But all this is metaphor. There is
a real place and a genuine moment we must find. We must,
because it is our birthright and our mission...

I can do no more: I am only a teller of tales, a writer
of poems, perhaps only a dreamer of reality, always
half-asleep, with inspiration revealing to me only
small epiphanies. And you no doubt are anxious
for some ultimate, final wisdom... There are only
two of us left on this wide stage in this vast hall.
Let us look into each other's eyes and find a trace of
that knowledge the journey and the music revealed,
and be confident that much knowledge yields sufficient grace
for our lives to be blessed and us to render blessings to others.