Joyful Ruins

I hold my violin

Back straight

Bow up

I look around me

in a sea of other people

Other instruments

Cellos, violas

Trumpets, flutes

Some chat to one another

Other practice their notes

But we are all pointed towards one thing

Or, at least our chairs are

Pointed to an empty stand

I watch the stand

Anticipating and ready

For who it belongs to

When the conductor walks on

And takes his place

Everyone stops

No more chatting

Or practicing

We look to him

We watch him for our next move

He sends a message to us all

An expression on his face

The baton held a certain way

And with a deep breath

We begin to play

You see

Our eyes are fixed on him

We watch for his direction

Timing

We even watch for a smile of approval

We may

From time to time

Get lost on our notes

But when we do

The music can go off track

And we lose the harmony in place

So

Each of us

Eventually

Must look to him

To play together

To sound beautiful

To know when

We all play differently

Sound different

Read notes differently

Even sit differently

And these differences create

A symphony of sound

We each play at different times

Highlighting the beauty of our instrument

Uniquely made for that time

At other times

We sit and listen

In all this

We need the conductor

To remind us to play

Or to listen

To remind us to increase or decrease our volume

He shows us who we are in the song

We play our instrument

But the conductor creates the music

The conductor keeps us together

He guides us into beauty

So

We keep our eyes on him