Pavane and Me

So last night I got the chance to see the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and loved it, but there was one piece that stood out to be in particular - Pavane Op.50 by Fauré. It had an enchanting effect that I loved and, based on some other conversations I've had about music recently I decided to put my feelings accompanied by the song into words, hence the poem. Either before or after or during your reading of this poem, I'd highly recommend listening to the piece of music; you'll love it. Here's a youtube version of it that works well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpgyTl8yqbw

Anyway, on to the actual poem.

In The Woods Of Pavane
For me alone Fauré spoke forests
open to the wandering oboe
vines sprouting from the violins;
I could see through the early dusk
light trickle down the curtains.
his musings kept me with him
on this stroll; his rising nostalgia
listening for home between minor notes:
the careful steps of nymphs before us.

He tried to explain the season,
winter, February, the abiding wind
pushing rainclouds across the rouge sky.
Music lifted off the page like a cool mist,
spilled off the stage, and wrapped around me.
Darkness, at his description, stole in
and became lost beneath our feet:
the shadows of old leaves shed
as if from the emerging twilight stars.

He will not step beyond woods with me.
We pause and breathe across the expanse.
To re-imagine is to forget the pain
housed within each red brick of this hall,
so rapt and motionless that I’ve left them behind,
the girl sitting beside me, the couple, rows ahead.
I close my eyes and remember his words.
I hear the descent of the final snowfall
and I shiver, smile, and it’s over.

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I really feel that this poem does a good job both of capturing the feeling of the music, but more specifically as well the feelings and ideas that it brings out in the main character. After all, to just praise the music is fine, but I what I really wanted to do was show how it can reflect upon the individual listener who then shapes it to his own life. Isn't poetry itself a lot like that? You yourself, having read this poem may feel something, but it's not likely to be exactly what I felt. That's fine, as long as it reflected upon you in some way. As a poem I want to draw something out of you: an emotion, and idea, whatever. I hope you enjoyed this poem (and the music) a lot!