I hear Kronos Quartet
on television
talking 'bout their project Fifty For The Future and I'm not prepared
when Sunny Yang
opens the piece Nana Triban
by Fodé Lassana Diabaté from Mali
on her violoncello,
and tears well up in my eyes

I had no idea

The emotions erupt
from a place deep inside my unconscious,
changing the emergent land
of the conscious
engaging my totality;

open up visions of the planet,
and I'm a membrane
for those strong and pure vibrations from the cello

I put up no resistance;
this is where I am, who I am
when this voice rises up out of the African desert
with such elegance,
such calm generosity;

offering me this moment
with clear eyes and open hands;
person to person,
without reservations

music holy and simple
as a gift without ulterior motives,

as a mother's caress

a music reserving a space within me
for calm, honest, natural living
and it is in this sudden space I have room to weep
that which should be wept