The old concertos
are ways to speak,
to argue,
to persuade

paint in big strokes
across the canvas

For all modernity
and experimentation
and numerous ways of negating
and tearing apart

I wouldn't lose Bruch's Violin Concerto
or Grieg's Piano Concerto
nor any of the others
against which my youth grew
and disappeared into manhood
which disappeared into old age

I wouldn't be without
the worlds that rose
out of those scores
and still rise,
perhaps now in the distance,
with the bitter-sweet taste
of dwindling time