Fan letters

What’s It Like by Jeanie Greensfelder

Posted:October, 13 2015

What’s It Like

to be flown to London to play a Stradivarius
before it goes to auction, to love it, and then,

to receive the million and a half dollar
red violin as a gift at age sixteen;

to keep your ownership secret for ten years
until you’re known as a soloist,

to court the violin for thirteen years
before you feel you know each other,

to wonder about its life those two hundred
years it was lost,

to wish the violin would play the pieces
it knows that you don’t,

to hold history in your hand and to be
creating part of that history,

to train daily and practice five hours a day
to be worthy of your instrument;

to be stunningly beautiful, yet modest,
gracious, and wanting to share;

to bring the violin to life playing Tchaikovsky’s
concerto, to feel its soul soar,

to receive a standing ovation, and then,
to go home with your violin?

Dedicated to Elizabeth Pitcairn
Jeanie Greensfelder, author: Biting the Apple, Penciled In, 2012; Marriage and Other Leaps of Faith, Penciled In, 2015