A Requiem for Them

"Grant them eternal rest, Lord,

And let perpetual light shine upon them." 

We, the seekers, the listeners, 

Are the "them" that Mozart referred to 

When he wrote his dying work,

his own Requiem. 

Beethoven's "dearest beloved" 

was the yearned-after inspiration of 9 symphonies, 

the intended audience of countless works of art. 

And we, Britten's "sleepers", Mozart's "them",

Beethoven's "beloved" , 

Are growing ignorant of these gifts, this ethereal beauty. 

What is a requiem or a symphony 

if no one is listening? 

The numbers dwindle; the listeners in the opera houses, 

the driver's with the classical music station turned to fortissimo.

it is my duty, it is my mission, 

to share; 

to make accessible these miracles 

people are forgetting, are losing. 

Britten's "Sleepers", Mozart's "Them", 

Beethoven's "Beloved."

They will hear, they will listen.

If I can introduce once child to one miracle, 

in one opera house, I will have 

allowed Mozart's "perpetual light" to shine upon them. 

I will be a vessel.