My husband needs music to fall asleep
Melodies imparting through the darkness
A violin bowing melancholy Irish Aires
The quaver of breathy pan flutes
Harp strings plucking like brook water
Dripping through small stones
Our love has always been imbued by song
Lost chords, subtle shifts in key
He taught me the notes
Knowing where the chords change
His hands steady and assured
The sharp strings pierced
My unfamiliar, uncalloused hands
He urged me
To play on
One of our cats, black and white male,
Nuzzles between us in the bed
His paws upraised, his body lengthened
Curved sidelong around our shins,
The other cat, the big gray Persian,
Sleeps on my pillow, crowning my head
Like a towering, fuzzy Russian hat
In unison, they purr, a blissful murmur,
Surrendering fully to the moment
Knowing the loveliest melodies are the simplest kind
Attuned to their cadence, transfixed,
I need no other sound
We are joined together by music