fermata

my heart not flesh but keys and wire
pins. hammers. strings gone still
reachin out for melody’s ghost
that hovers just beyond my grasp

I am a vessel overfilled
music trapped beneath my skin
desperate to escape thru fingertips
that tremble behind their prison walls

silence grows heavy with the mornin sun
unplayed notes collect under dust
I count days like measures in a score
where this fermata stretches past what I can bear