Mesmerized
The music pounded in his head,
a hammer
on fast twitch repeat,
the drum beat
hollow in his chest,
his vision swirled
with melted shades from the lights,
a viral display
that pulsed another color
every second.
Around him
the tribe danced,
spun, flailed,
punched the air;
he stood in the middle
a lost warrior,
mesmerized
as the words floated over him,
snakes of vowels and consonants,
disjointed, uneven,
reckless.
The crowd moved away
leaving him
in a cocoon
of pyrotechnic smoke.
Trembling,
he held himself, fetal
to the ground,
dust his mother,
twenty thousand rhythmically clapping hands
acting paternal.
When the piano started
he rose to his feet,
a wide-eyed child of the music,
a creation of melody, timbre, tone,
a riff, a beat, a bridge,
a collection of notes
that breathes life
into the wounded
and starts their heart
beating again.