Speaking of courtship, on this Day 530 of the daily poems we hear from our poet Colin Pink with a villanelle from his collection The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament. Thc composer Alban Berg was in Prague in 1926 for the production of his opera Wozzeck, where he began an affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. In his string quartet Lyric Suite he encoded musical notations of his and her initials, and included hidden lyrics declaring his love.
Lyric Suite
(for Alban Berg and Hanna Fuchs-Robettin)
It was a secret love, unseen, hiding in plain sight
it was Prague in spring, sultry and full of flowers
it was a lonely love, interrupted by broken nights.
It was kind and generous its eyes shining bright
it was cruel laughter in cafes, thorns in rose bowers
it was a secret love, unseen, hiding in plain sight.
It was languid days, hushed conversation, so polite
it was brazen as burlesque, sharp as a cold shower
it was a lonely love, interrupted by broken nights.
It was looking over its shoulder, ready for flight
it was locked in a cupboard, trapped for hours
it was a secret love, unseen, hiding in plain sight.
it was a punctilious bureaucrat, and knew its rights
it was bought and paid for with loved one’s tears
it was a lonely love, interrupted by broken nights.
It was a brief season of joy and passionate rites
it was going to last forever, eternal in each hour
it was a secret love, unseen, hiding in plain sight
it was a lonely love, interrupted by broken nights
Colin Pink
from The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament, a Colin Pink collection published by Against the Grain Press, 2019