By: Carolyn Pinet
Listening to Yo-Yo Ma play "Over the Rainbow"
to a humpback whale
off the coast of Hawaii's Big Island
raises my spirits in unimagined ways.
The whale spouts an inconceivable and showy fountain of water, and it sings along - is that just coincidence? I want to believe it is entranced by Yo-Yo's plaintive and endearing "Over the Rainbow."
Meanwhile Toto trots along the beach,
convinced he will arrive at the Meaning of Life, and soon.
Yo-Yo is ;bobbing up and down in someone's boat, but, unfazed, he plays on:
the music imitates the waves
while the sea turns iridescent.
No wonder Jonah, mesmerized, lingered
inside that whale's immense body!
There's no way I can resist listening and watching:
all the rhythms of life seem at play -
Wallace Stevens knew it, so did Emily,
and now I do: I look and listen, entranced, and, for once, I'm convinced that, at last, I am hearing what rings true.