On Hearing Schubert

Cramped by the diminished row, my coat,purse and computer case, I craned my neckaround an overture of hair and fiddledwith my program notes. I was aware,keenly, of my own knees and arms, the seat,and the stuff I'd hauled in from outside and upthree flights. I'd brought it all, the whole cold day,and hunkered down in its familiar coldnessas the houselights flickered, dimmed. I can't quite saywhat happened next, or where the audience went,but as I sat on some darkened shore, I watchedthe long-delayed but inevitable sunfeel out again the lines of its horizon,and I found I'd let my sorrows go. Still there,of course, but not clutched tight, as my whole soulcould not contain it all, this wild delight.