Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Golden Moment

I draw the bow across the strings, the trembling G of Chopin’s Largo, and wait for the small gap of time suspended between noise and its absence, the space where the note vibratos into nothingness. I lower the bow, and the hall thunders.



Planes careen into fields and skyscrapers, a cacophony of metal and fire. After, the sky stills, an eerie instant slouching towards an infinity of sorts. I rest my cello in its velvet-lined case, and close the lid.



You enter this world amidst the clack and clatter of machinery, the urgency of voices, and the stench of laser-burnt skin. The surgeon reaches into my abdomen and your head crowns, waxed with blood. The surgical suite melts into white static and you yelp your hello.



Your science project involves water tension and other physics I do not understand. I watch you release the eyedropper, amazed at the utter perfection with which each bead breaks the awaiting meniscus. You record the seconds it takes for the water to resume its placid surface.



The hushed morning after the snowstorm, you sleep upstairs. The ground glitters with diamond dust, the only sound the tinkle of flakes falling. I pick up my cello and play to find the space in between.


***
Inspired by this week's 52-250 Flash a Year Challenge theme: silence. What is often most significant is that left unsaid: the blank page, the unbroken snow, the beat between notes.

11 comments:

  1. Hypotheticals on the mind of an expectant mother, perhaps?

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  2. This was breathtaking. How often I think of those spaces between and how important they are. The opening and closing with the cello is pitch perfect.

    Merry Christmas, Linda.

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  3. A very poetic piece, Linda. I must admit I don't fully understand what's happening. However, each paragraph stands alone and brings back a memory for me and has me thoughtful...and comforted (if that made sense?)

    Merry Christmas to you and your family.

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  4. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
    May all your writing's beauty come to life for you this holiday season. May your spirit be strong facing all life's obstacles and heartbreaks, and may peace be yours.

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  5. Excellent story! Loved the structure of it. As always, you say so much with so few words.

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  6. Thank you all for reading and commenting. This was an experimental piece. My intent was to note the silent moments we often run right over in our busyness and noisy existences. Everything here based on fact, simply replace cello with flute.

    Have a very happy Holiday. Peace...

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  7. This is so very beautiful Linda, I could feel those silent moments in their entirety. We do so often overlook the important seconds of our lives, in too big of a hurry to get to the next, which we then ignore too. Thank you for the gorgeous reminder to stop and be in those moments.

    I especially love this line: "...the small gap of time suspended between noise and its absence."

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  8. to find the space in between

    so beautiful

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  9. How the mind will wander if we're just still enough to let it go. A nice piece, Linda.

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  10. The one that really left me thinking was the one with the planes, and the emptiness that followed, both in the skyline and the soul.

    I love the emptiness of unbroken snow. I think there are few things in this world more beautiful.

    Merry Christmas, Linda, and all the best to you in the New Year.
    ~jon

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