Carolyn Raphael – String Poet

Swept Away

The four-minute Prelude to Wagner’s Das Rheingold is based entirely
on a single chord and simulates the Rhine River.

At first a rumble—no, an E-flat drone
Insinuates then bores into the ear.
We vibrate to the low primordial tone
That swells into a major chord. Aware
That we are riverborne, no need for air,
We yield. The undulations spread, immerse
Us as the low bassoons and horns declare
The animation of the universe.
Then cellos, woodwinds, violins rehearse
Two leitmotifs, which we will hear retold
When Wagner weaves the fabric of the curse
An evil dwarf places on stolen gold.
The roaring current lifts us as it brings
The curtain up. The first Rhinemaiden sings.

Carolyn Raphael retired from the English Department at Queensborough Community College, CUNY, after more than thirty years of teaching. Her poems have appeared in journals including Cumberland Poetry Review, Measure, The Lyric, and American Arts Quarterly. Her chapbook, Diagrams of Bittersweet, was published by Somers Rocks Press in 1997, and her poetry collection, The Most Beautiful Room in the World, was published by David Robert Books in 2010.