Prelude in C by Lisa Molina

As a boy, his fingers flew,

fluttering over the white and

black keys through the doors 

of the concert halls within him.

Windows open, so the neighbors

could stop, listen, and be 

transfixed, transported from 

their weariness, worries, and fears.

*

But the judge wrote

on the scorecard

that Bach should be

played straight and light;

A consistent tap tap tap, with

no crescendos or diminuendos

that plagued and graced the 

music of the boy’s mind.

“You are not to perform Bach 

with the emotion of Beethoven,”

read the callous critique of the

dispassionate judge.

•

I think of this, as I sit 

in this church, trying not 

to hear or feel emotions 

of pain. Of loss.

Just my fingers 

tap tap tapping

next to me on the 

wooden pew I sit upon,

as the Prelude in C,

now devoid of emotional

crescendos and diminuendos,   

sings the boy’s requiem.

---

Lisa Molina is a writer/educator in Austin, Texas. Her chapbook “Don’t Fall in Love with Sisyphus” launched in February 2022, and she has another chapbook slated for release in March 2023. Her words have been published in numerous print and online publications, including Trouvaille Review, Beyond Words Magazine, Sparked Literary Magazine, and Neologism Poetry Journal. Molina now works with high school students with special needs.