Mourning # 6
“music began
in the midst of the mourning”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies
The shriek glissades to a moan
A major to F# minor
then the whimper on the exhale
in straight D on the upbeat
the palm slaps the chair arm
or pant leg or pillow case
a few staccato pulsations in double time
even the silence that enters the house
is musical, at night, when the guests
leave, the virus leaves with them
until there’s breathing on two notes
inhale here exhale there, over
and over.
---- Armando Manzanero, 85, died of COVID-19
in December 2020 after 6 days on a ventilator.
He was Mexico’s premier songwriter and pop singer.
His romantic ballads were performed by Sinatra,
Elvis and Perry Como. Manzanero won a life-
time achievement Grammy in 2014. He wrote over
400 songs and made 30 records. He was still working
when he got sick. The Mexican Society of Authors
and Composers called him, “the romantic soul of Mexico”
and said, “the world is in mourning.” He was married
four times. Manzanero was rather short, but he was
a giant of Mexican music.
Was that sound the swish of a brush on a snare drum
or his spirit flying away to wherever those things go?
And tomorrow
Should you ask me for the world
Somehow I’d get it
I would sell my very soul
And not regret it
For to live without your love
It’s just impossible
Siempre novios
Solo novios
Impossible.
