<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">Listening to the Koln Concert</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">After we had loved each other intently,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">we heard notes tumbling together,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">in late winter, and we heard ice</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">falling from the ends of twigs.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">The notes abandon so much as they move.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">They are the food not eaten, the comfort</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">not taken, the lies not spoken.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">The music is my attention to you.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">And when the music came again,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">later in the day, I saw tears in you r eyes.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">I saw you turn your face away</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">so that the others would not see.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">When men and women come together,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">how much they have to abandon! Wrens</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">make their nests of fancy threads</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">and string ends, animals</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">abandon all their money each year.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">What is that men and women leave?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">Harder then wrens' doing, they have</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">to abandon their longing for the perfect.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">The inner nest not made by instinct</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">will never be quite round,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">and each has to enter the nest</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">made by the other imperfect bird.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Robert Bly</div></body></html>