by Kent Reichert

It is the Spirit
rising within
hollow metal chambers,
birthing air,
surging, thermals uplifting
melodic raptors 
soaring in sinuous flight.
Orphans on the sheet,
until fingered on the keyboard,
mindful of
surrounding notes'
pitches,
colors and durations,
all in synchronized escape;
each torrent
adorned with spectral auras,
differences dissolve,
becoming light,
simultaneously,
illumination.

From mouth and lips,
throughout their speaking length;
vibrating reeds
transform to vocal chords,
spanning this planetary universe,
creation's remnants,
greater and lesser lights,
convulsing nebulae,
each vibrating debutante
embracing the other
in harmonic ballet
capturing one's ear,
mind,
and heart in passing,
as a glissade of praise ascending
to the throne.
Oh, it is well
with my soul.

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A lifelong educator, Kent Reichert, holds a Master’s degree in Religion from Wake Forest University and a doctorate from UNC-Charlotte. A native of Southern California, he has spent the last 50 years living the North Carolina piedmont. His writing has appeared in The Dead Mule, The Dispatch and New Verse News, receiving a Best of the Net nomination for his poem Three Days by Rail from North Carolina.