Robin Ford

A four-piece rock band and a suave MC
With volume turned up high had thrilled the crowd.
Those fleeting moments drifting through the air
Were frozen, copied for posterity;
Now, did you watch the video at home?
Great sound; large screen, but not the same of course.
Where is the crowd? Where is that throbbing beat?
And people making music on the fly.
Quite wondrous are these things that humans make
That amplify, record, transmit, and shout
At death. Compare the un-supported voice –
Its pressure waves from lip to ear, direct –
That speaks of death, with gentle tenderness.
So I dare hear, calmed by a song’s caress.