Kamaskera What the Sitar Caught

The string hums before I touch it
A note I did not set
Something fell through the August air
The sitar has not forgotten yet

The sympathetic wire receives
What atmosphere lets through
Each frequency a life released
Each light a voice I never knew

The shore comes up — I did not call it
What falls, the wire will hold
What the sitar caught tonight
Was warm before the world went cold

The sky thins down to final sparks
The last of what they sent
Each note a talent from the dark
Each string its testament

I did not ask to carry this
The gift no one assigned
The wire holds what the air releases
The dead compose what the living find

Name them — I cannot name them
Count them — there are too many
Every light that fell tonight
Left a frequency the sitar fills

The shore comes up — I did not call it
What falls, the wire will hold
I am the string that does not break
For the warm ones the world let go