Tension is an integral part of music as well as life. Strings are tightened on violins and guitars; air must be forced through valves and tubes in various wind instruments.

In each life, tension exists between the temporal and the infinite; at times creating something hauntingly beautiful.

The Music Within

I hear it in the deep heart's core. - William Butler Yeats

As we grow,
hidden strings
stretch taunt
across the hollow place
inside our souls.

Soon we learn,
through trial and error,
to tune each cord;
in constant search of
perfect tension's faultless pitch.

As we move
throughout our life,
the choices we make
create from within
a music that is our own.

Sometimes bitter
sometimes sweet;
each song
a wondrous part of
creation's unfinished chorus.

Stirring from the depths
of our deepest emotions;
rising always upwards,
even to the very portals of heaven;
where listens the Everlasting Spirit of God.

Next poem: Questions for Partisans

Author: Jerry Dan Deutschendorf
from: Red Earth Whisperings
Part IV: Timeless Truths