To Be Read With The Playing Of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet In A, K 581 Poem by RIC BASTASA

I ONCE will remember you
entering inside my life like a view from the hills

a black bird perched on a branch of mahogany
there for hours staring at me

tried to shoo you away
you stayed like i am this man that owed you something
and i have not paid you
what you deserve

i closed my door and peeped upon a hole of light
you are still there

there was rain and storm and thunder and lightning
i closed my door and windows and checked the roof for leaks

blackbird you are still there
staring at the house unmoved by my injustices

you are the black bird undying
you are the song insistent upon itself

inside my heart