Someone once told me that harmony
was first about furniture making –
the fitting and shaping of wood,
the fine joinery
making each piece come together

And that it was metaphor making the link
to that which is found in sweet music,
and people’s relations of joy and not friction
that all of us crave in our souls

Which doesn’t explain
why working with wood
through the course of these last few days
has cleared my head fully
of all thoughts of poetry,
left me with nothing to say.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 17, 2021