“Son Borne of the Street Song”

— inspired by the life of Gustav Mahler & his Last Symphony No. 9

in the darkness, 

in the exile – there is a sigh, a number 9

there is a son borne of the street song, the injured tympani red drum

there is a town Jihlava, a make-shift theatre &

rough-cut street dancers, there is a sky that welcomes him

his furious strings tasking the universe, his weaving of all things

the piccolo & the flute

oboes of furies tiny streams of burning slow breath 

we wait in silence & face up

we notice the heavens, the turbulence & 

wild sharp strokes & pieces of banned color & banned voices

their outcast Jewish hymn takes us to the endless seas

unknown choruses unknown winds & collapsing worlds

we enter we follow we enter we halt we are halted 

vanishing harmonies you walk through quadrants of space 

music what is it one note encompasses everything 

one oboe returns why

your life beginning your life almost ending then ending

what do you hear in this vastness this movement before you 

unknown forces whirl violins & the dead

the director’s arms & hands sway shaking point dissolve

only still we stand now we only

left alone only Gustav Mahler lives on

by this bed this night this day this last cycle

falls into an ever returning descent of light 

a voice a voice do you hear it hear it

– juan felipe herrera | Jan. 16, 2022