To Tune a Guitar

The way to tune a guitar: hold it loose and easily

Every flat or sharp tells you where it needs to be

Strings should sing like stars, serenade us like the moon

and that’s the way a guitar is tuned

 

To listen to a song: come inside, be right here

So soon we will be gone and all we see will disappear

but waves of sound go on, eternity’s a singing bird

and that’s the way a song is heard

 

Carnivals of constellations rise above the earth

They have heard all that’s occurred from the universe’s birth

From ancient adorations to Jerusalem’s despair

From coffee conversation to Buddha’s final prayer

 

The way to fall in love: let it go, fall apart

You’ve sheltered long enough, your weary, wondrous broken heart

Nothing need be done,  just be beneath the morning sun

and that’s the way love will come

and that’s the way a song is heard

and that’s the way a guitar is turned

 

Dennis Caraher