A cool golden evening
offers a place of repose
Nearby purling creek
converses with my nameless sorrow
A lone bluebird high
in clannish family of willows
intones a language that is so
sharp I want to cry
Long to release lingering distress
from my breast
Suddenly galloping tempo of her canto
slows from presto to lingering lento
I begin to feel that each note
is as long as a lifetime
All the while bluebird continues
building little towers of melodies
as if rejoicing in a duet
to and from my own heart
sweeping my walls away
Marianne Lyon has been a music teacher for 43 years. After teaching in Hong Kong, she returned to the Napa Valley and has been published in various literary magazines and reviews including Ravens Perch, TWJM Magazine, Earth Daughters and Indiana Voice Journal. She was nominated for the Pushcart prize in 2017. She is a member of the California Writers Club and an Adjunct Professor at Touro University in California.
