String quartet No. 4
I sit on my patio
listening to Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 4 in C
minor
as the sun melds into the ionosphere,
dusk brushing the treetops
Unseen starlings chirp in counterpoint
to the morose movements,
violins evocatively weeping and celebrating
the composer’s vision
Lightning bugs spark in lockstep to the meter,
their jittery flight outlined in the gasping light.
Crickets, hunkered down in the shrubbery like
insurgents,
provide the choral flourish that encapsulates
the flawless collaboration between Beethoven
