Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings
The mournful elegy, molto adagio
Speaking out of the deepest grief and confusion
Too sad for words, the strings must weep in their stead
The bittersweet taste of Pyhrric victory
The heave and sigh of life itself
Deeper now, higher now, and back around
A slow marching band playing almost silently until the fortissimo-forte
Teetering at the crest of the ethereal arch
A pregnant, breathless pause—
Suspending our disbelief that we are still alive
The blood begins to flow once more; the spine tingles
A sigh and a glimmer of hope to keep going
We can begin our climb back down the mountain of our own devising
The tears seep from places within, hitherto unknown
Drawn out by vibrating strings of mysterious power and grace
Driven by horsehair and the enigma of life