“Thank You for the Music”

Open letter to my musical neighbor:
Thank you for the piano recitals
through my open window on a Thursday night:
the arpeggios and staccatos and then the steady scales
filtering so softly as I fold my laundry
on the bed I will crawl into shortly.
Thank you for the violin concerts in the afternoon
as I wash vegetables at the sink —
the aching in my neck and the weight melted into my feet
being lifted by the notes plucked bit by bit.
Thank you especially for the opera on a rainy Sunday
that floats through the chilly August air:
the song now contained in my body with its
full-blooded warmth and passion.
Thank you.