A man saw the whole world as a grinning skull and
cross-bones. The rose flesh of life shriveled from all
faces. Nothing counts. Everything is a fake. Dust to
dust and ashes to ashes and then an old darkness and a
useless silence. So he saw it all. Then he went to a
Mischa Elman concert. Two hour waves of sound beat
on his eardrums. Music washed something or other
inside him. Music broke down and rebuilt something or
other in his head and heart. He joined in five encores
for the young Russian Jew with the fiddle. When he
got outside his heels hit the sidewalk a new way. He
was the same man in the same world as before. Only
there was a singing fire and a climb of roses everlastingly
over the world he looked on.
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Comments
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For ea
Perhaps the reference to washing
"Music washed something or other
inside him" and to waves in lines 6-7-8 have something to do with the title. -
I agree with Nam's analysis but I wonder why this is called "Bath."
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It could be the Town of Bath in England. Thre are musical festivals there and have been for many years - I can't be certain of course but it could be.
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I like the first line. It gives me the image of a person who just saw bleak turmoil in their life and that's it. Then one day later on in the piece, he goes to a concert and his world has changed. he dances to a different step.
Yet, at the same time, he is still the same person. He still sees the world in a bleak manner, but, he also sees that there is good in the world and maybe there is a different way to walk then he may had first realised before seeing the concert.
It's a wonder what one thing can do to change a person step. A wonderful piece written by Sandburg.
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