Read by David Ferry · Sound Martin Lutz

There is a passage in the Mozart K. 511 Rondo in A Minor,

Measures 98 through 101, And focused on measure 100, where there are

At least four different melodies, or fragments Of melodies, together and apart,

Resolving themselves, or unresolving themselves With: enigmatic sweetness, or melancholy;

Distant memories of victories, Personal, royal, or mythic over demons;

Sophisticated talking about ideas; Moments of social or sexual concord; or

Of parting though with mutual regret; Differences and likenesses of natures;

It was what you said last night, whoever you are, That told me what your nature is, and didn’t;

It was the way you said the things that you said, Grammar and syntax, agents of our fate;

Allusions to disappointments; as also To an unexpected gift somebody gave

To someone there in the room behind the music; Someone else working out a problem

At a table under the glowing light of a lamp; Or the moment when the disease has finally

Proceeded to its foregone working through, Leaving behind it nothing but the question

Of whether there’s a heaven to sing about. The clarity and poise of the arrangement,

The confidence in the very writing of it Fosters the erroneous impression that

There’s all the truth there is, in the little nexus, Encapsulated here in narratives

Diminutive in form, perfectly told, As far as they are willing to be told.

According to the dictionary, “resolve” Derives from “solve” and “solve” derives from the Latin

“Solvere” that means “untie,” and “re-” Is an intensifier, meaning “again,”

And so, again, again, and again, what’s tied Must be untied again, and again, and again;

Or else it’s like what happens inside a lock, The cylinders moving back and forth as the lock

Is locked, unlocked, and locked, over and over. ¶

Mozart Rondo in A Minor, K. 511; Charles Rosen (Piano) · Link to Full Album