By Stephen Sanders
After ‘Gnossienne No. 1’ by Erik Satie
A macabre, gentle, mystical melody.
Lyrical, repetitive yet ever transforming.
A siren’s call leading us to a hidden place
deep within. Not a subterranean stream
but high-flying clouds driven quietly,
forcefully forward on the strength
of winds unhindered by the boundaries
and barriers of the earthly, mundane world.
A warm, ghostly breath on the nape.
A walk along a dim forest trail
that the wanderer faintly recalls
but unquestionably remembers.
A tingling on the edge of feeling
in the garish day and the darkest night
as a spirit from the narrowly glimpsed beyond
passes just past sight but not past sensation.
(Editor’s note: French composer Erik Satie (1866–1925) published the iconoclastic Gnossiennes in 1893.)
Stephen Sanders has been a poet for over fifty years and writes in Fort Worth, Texas. His books include “Songs for a Mechanical Age” and “A Year on the Train to Dallas.” You can find his work in “Echoes From Other Worlds,” “Voices Along the River,” “The Adriatic,” “Di-verse-city 2019,” and the Poetry Society of Texas’ “A Book of the Year.” Sanders also writes short fiction and historical fiction.
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