In Soviet Russia
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| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24727079-symphony-for-the-city-of-the-dead |
When everything
Had meaning
But nothing
Made sense
Shostakovich was denounced
As "anti-people".
Stalin sat
At the Bolshoi,
Listened
To the music,
Stood
Half way through
And left.
An orchestrated
Moment perfectly timed
To set vibrations
Through the audience.
Shostakovich asks:
"What was the
Composer trying
To say?"
And answers:
"Questions are naive"
He asks:
"Can music
Be evil?"
"Can it make man
Stop and think?"
...
Each of us
Sits in the pits
Bowing our parts,
Playing to a wider
Score.
When the
End comes,
There is
A brief moment
Of silence;
We hold
Our breath
And wait
For a reaction.
