The Soul of a Viola

Furnished with the smoky alto

tessitura, timbre of the viol –

burnished by its ancient shadow

and inviolable mystery –

and yet the instrument that

Mozart chose to play in a quartet;

intimate with human dissonance

and syncopation – pressed

against the beat – the bleat

and pull – caress, distress –

the beckoning ambivalence

of hemiola: the soul of a viola.

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