Poor Viktor Hartmann!
All that remained of his towering soul
Were visions pressed onto paper
Hanging in a St. Petersburg gallery.
Mussorgsky advanced his lumbering frame
Along the gallery halls
Searching for his lost friend.
Sonic images formed in the composer's mind
Singing replicas of Hartmann's icons:
An old castle,
Children quarreling,
An ox resisting the weight of its cart,
The Great Gate of Kiev.
Mussorgsky's notes sound and vanish
As ephemeral as life itself -
Passing into the ether only to live anew
With each successive performance.
Viktor lives!
October, 2006
Robert Charles Howard
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/pictures-at-an-exhibition/
