early music metaphor

string player

subtle
as an instrument
with ten strings, i
move
for you,
idea of
a lover.

as the church
awaits her bridegroom
so i
await you,

like the center
of the earth,
in a state of
banked yet constant fire--

like a shape in Hell,
self-enflagrate,
even when nothing's left
to burn
but the fire itself--

formless
but for its flame,
or frozen,
repeating
like the echoing vein
of the wood,
polished
into liquidity,
that makes up
the broken back
of the low-singing gamba.