Waiting Patiently
By John Herlihy

I
I am just a needle in a groove,
Registering impulses that soothe.
Music arises sweet to the ears,
Enriched melodies that squeeze out tears.
I hear sounds that reach back to Adam,
Even faint echoes of Babylon and Sodom.
The music of my needle doesn’t hear snow;
Snow falls silently, in flakes no sound to know.
But I do hear sleigh bells tinkling below,
Reminding me of other worlds waiting to bestow.
I am waiting patiently to achieve my goals,
To avoid if possible the danger of life’s shoals.
For mercy and blessing from the land in the sky,
An otherworldly realm that understands why.

II
I am just a bow string in a violin,
Ready to register sound in my outer skin.
Pluck me once and you will hear my ping,
Play on my string and you will hear me sing.
Happy tunes that reflect my inner mood,
Unhappy runes that set me to quietly brood.
I lay coiled tightly ready to make a sound,
But have nothing to say with no one around.
It’s all in the nuance of the hand that touches me,
Understanding and love bring out the best of me.
I now belong to a family of strings of a lost guitar,
I might as well be the end string of an Indian sitar.
My claim to fame is that I am a musical fellow,
Even if I sound out the sad dirge on an ancient cello.

III
We are gut strings on an instrument of ancient breed;
We originate from the depths of primordial seed.
We gurgle savage sounds on the strings of our infancy,
Until we are finely tuned with a proper sense of urgency.
We play out our lives with the heart beat of jungle rhythms;
The light that we shine is filtered through unearthly prisms.
In old age, my string continues its course to pluck and ping,
The wisdom of the ages into my fading life to bring.
Give me a bow lovingly crafted from the Divine Hand;
I will offer an arrow projected by a steady human hand.
The arrow gently settled into my string at its groove;
I am stretched to the full extent of my ability to prove,
That we are but strings, waiting patiently and strung tight,
Until life’s arrow soars aloft, trailing feathers into the night.