Musica Universalis
The music of the ancient earth is not
The music of the spheres. It is instead
The sound of earthquakes and volcanoes, hot
With lava and destruction. Hear the dread
In seal pups when a killer whale appears.
The music is of wildebeests in fright
While crossing rivers fleeing from the spears
Or claws that want them. In the veldt’s fanged night
The music is the lioness in charge
To bite the zebra’s throat and hush its moan.
The quietness of measures may enlarge
Inside us in a cancer patient’s groan.
The hurricane brings on tornado’s roar.
We cannot hear the bull’s horn make its gore.
~ Phillip Whidden