-at Mahler’s Resurrection-

and the guy who clapped too soon

It was only one or two seconds in duration,
an awkward, hesitant applause
at a brief pause between passages
in the later moments of the fifth movement

as if the naked perpetrator didn’t realize
that applauding during the brief interlude was inappropriate.

but he began to applaud in the way of fast approaching
an amber-colored traffic light where the line of indecision is drawn;

that instant between accelerating or breaking, to beat
or not beat the light,
that breach in the fabric of time whereby the moment

of decision becomes a decision too late, or as it is now

in attendance as Symphony Hall during Mahler’s "Resurrection",––

yes, there,–– not on the road, that he fell through the breach, somewhere
between "Sehr langsam und gedehnt"
and something listed as: "O glaube, mein Herz.."

and he was wrong,––

too late to pull it all back,––
pull back his hands held outward, shoulder high, quickly drawn,
but exposed long enough to fall from Mahler's grace

only to arrive at the gates to the alternate universe he's made for himself,
there henceforth to dwell alone in his nakedness, the poor schmuck.