Ceremony

From Sea Level, a book of poetry by Suzanne Matson:

Ceremony

To hear this music I have dressed with care,
have pulled the ritual pieces from their drawers--
fine stockings, old brooch, a band for my hair.
I am clean like mint. For these hours
when early night and scouring cold conspire
we will gather in a lit place, restless
until the conductor lifts the thin wire
of our attention. Another man directs us.
I love the maestro's fine hands, all the rapt
taut beauty he shapes in air, cutting loose
our small private lives so they may rise, rise, locked
together in an abstract joy like prayer.
I need a Father, need a God, and fear
the need. No matter. Though close, He is not here.