Lifting the Choir
By Davis Kunz, East Sierra Branch
Could they hear the Choir yet?
they’d travelled so far to get to it
and feel the promise of its song
so long the heart of their People
making them equal
beating strong
As they climbed from their small craft
their sea-splashed life raft
to their destination at last
onto the white beach sand
of a new and challenging land
so happy they laughed
They heard then the silver tones drifting in
and with them sensed an open hand
a giving palm they trembling clasped
which pulled them out to look upon
a noon-lit world so full of song
They blinked and danced
They then made a sudden chorus
and joined the Choir with solid purpose
chiming in with golden tongues
to lift the hymn with ringing lungs
adding music from where music comes
swift and sweet the rhythm runs
Who owns the fingers and thumbs that wrapped the oars
that rowed those sonant boats to choral shores
to calm the water’s drums like balm and stilled
the loud storm clouds with a lilting psalm
like all the trials they’d overcome
making each mountain a molehill
Those voices now added to the Choir
a victory of hard work and desire
painting new notes into its scores
enriching its gardens like the flowers
fellow singers those voices are ours
mine and yours
Thank you so much, class of 2016!
Davis Kunz wrote and read this poem
for his high school graduation, May 2016.