Klengel Composing His “Hymnus for Twelve Cellos”

He saw twelve cellos once in silent choir,
like bathers poised and dripping by the wall
to leap beyond a lifeguards beckoning.

The shop was open: RENTAL & REPAIR
OF DOUBLE-BASSES, CELLOS, VIO-
LINS BY EXPERT. Bows and strings.

One oscillating wave . . . the moving air
submerged him in its tide. The full
rooms “hummm” refracted, flooding

through the prism of his ear;
one tone widened to display all
tones. The spectrum of all things

a man could speak and hear
rainbowed in his mind and he must kneel:
the umber trees with burnt-sienna sheen

reveal their music in a prayer
that he can learn and tell
in praise that these carved woods will sing.