fastidious Mendelssohn
ever alert
to Bach and the strictures of formal balance
was undoubtedly repelled
by the luscious imagination
of frère Berlioz
but the fascination
of a mind more adept
at failure and fearsome vaults of logic
was surely real:
the worm of envy
dug deep
to little effect
on his own rigorous self.
 
fear and loathing
those stray influences
may sometimes deepen the ineradicable self.

 
Gar Jones - February 2014

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