The chairs wait in rows
Pregnant once again  
With an audience
To be shortly borne

Some chairs bear labels
Like a hospital bracelet:
‘How can I make you
More comfortable,
Ms. Reserved?’

Stools with backs
Make the back row
Rising above the common
Seats

In the very front
Backless benches
Charity ward, or
Place of Honor

Musicians
Tune and noodle
Like husbands
Waiting to be called in

The doors open
The chairs give birth
The audience is borne
To its short life as
The music begins

-- Tom Rubenoff