🎶 The Piano, the Cello, and the Comfort of Hidden Sorrows

 I asked the DJ to play me a soft song.

He said, “Fine, I know what you mean by soft song.”

A medley of strings and piano followed,

voiceless melodies that soothed my ears and soul.

But then I realized how sad it sounded

like a loss,

like the cello was weeping

and the piano was groaning.

I wondered why it comforted me.

Was I sad?

Was I trying to empathize

with the untold and unknown pain

of this nameless composer?

Did he or she see through me,

see the fissures that needed

to be woven together by the strings?

Were the chords there to muffle my pain

a pain of unknown source,

with no name and no aim,

floating effortlessly

through my mind and body?

I looked at it in defeat,

knowing I couldn’t hold it,

much less capture it.

Perhaps these songs

give me closure,

and comfort in the knowing

that pain is always somewhere,

floating quietly within me.