On Hearing the Last Minutes of Wagner

On Hearing the Last Minutes of

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Ramona Luengen

Pedestrian day of
grey, wet roads,
white lines - short dashes then doubled
breaking up a tedious monotony.
Concrete’s sallow colour
of uninspired, uninspiring texture

until music from the car radio
gathers dimensions,
builds to
crack open the everyday,
push through the tangible,
pulse into radiance.
Magnetic.
Mesmeric.
So much so
that I must pull the car over,
exit the mundane,
abandon the ordinary

to make myself fully aware,
fully available
to be filled abundantly
with a beauty that overwhelms
the heart to breaking,
the mind to incomprehensibility.

Numinous transcendence
found on the side of the road.

---

Ramona Luengen
Composer & Educator

Ramona is primarily a choral composer and music educator for whom poetry has always been a significant source of inspiration and exploration.  For more information, please visit www.ramonaluengen.com

Photography by Branimir Balogovic