834 and 835

Distracted by a conversation rife

with honesty, that didn’t need to be.

Distracted by the way my real life

burst out, despite it not being asked me.

And I, a great disservice, have become

for saying what I am. How selfish, I,

for giving just a fraction of the sum

of what I feel within me by the by.

I should keep that tucked tight away, unseen,

unknown to all but me and to my God.

No man should know the places that I’ve been.

No man should see the blood-steps I have trod.

I should not have told you. Forgive me, then,

and let me go invisible again.

~~~

You’ve heard the masses say to study Bach,

but not one single book will tell you how.

You’ll be hard pressed to even find much talk

on which BWVs are “chorale”.

So since I cannot stumble on the book,

I’ll write the book myself—though layman be

my skill since the last music class I took—

it is a resource that more eyes should see.

For though indeed as layman’s are my eyes,

I have been lucky to be by a few

who could, Bach’s sweet sonatas so surmise

because they learned the hard way: through and through.

So I’ll go through and through, and find out why

they hold his music and his name so high.