eight - a moment

A note floated in the air
suspended by the breath of thirty-nine of us
standing together on one stage.


In front of a scattered audience
with many red velvet chairs still

empty,

but it didn't matter.


The note stayed there,
aloft in the space of the great hall,
and
Cathedral-like reverence.

The drop of a hand,
and the note--
clipped--severed--
did not disappear.

Lingering reverberation:
echo enveloping memory.

A deep pause.

Applause.