The Mysterious Barricades
To improvise, first let your fingers stray
across the keys like travelers in the snow:
each time you start, expect to lost your way.
You'll find no staff to lean on, none to play
among the drifts the wind has left in rows.
To improvise, first let your fingers stray
beyond the path. Give up the need to say
which way is right, or what the dark stones show;
each time you start, expect to lose your way.
And what the stillness keeps, do not betray;
the one who listens is the one who knows.
To improvise, first let your fingers stray.
Our over-emptiness is where things weigh
the least. Go there, believe a current flows,
each time you start, expect to lose your way.
Risk is the pilgrimage that cannot stay;
the keys grow silent in their smooth repose.
To improvise, first let your fingers stray.
Each time you start, expect to lose your way.
Jared Carter
