UGLICH, RUSSIA



Who was it, I wonder,
who first thought
of making music
with nothing but his voice?

Was it a woman who got playful
with the sounds from her own head,
humming or clucking or whistling
or perhaps letting the vibrations
from deep in the throat rise slowly
increasing in volume until
a cave or a pine grove
or maybe a wide meadow
resonated with joy...someone
who didn’t have work to do...
sounds of elation or grief
or just plain celebration of being,
sound for the sound of sound...

A quiet hum that starts
in the back of the throat
and moves slowly to the hollows
of the upper nose
with vibrations that stir the soul
and comfort the heart
or sooth the broken spirit?

Was it a Mother looking
at her beautiful baby
saying over and over
go to sleep, my pretty,
close your eyes, my love;
or was it a man coming home
from the hunt with more food
than he had dreamed possible,
exulting, remembering, bragging
about his power?

And who then was it
that decided to put voices together...
perhaps two lovers together
after lovemaking, intimacy so intense
simple talk wasn’t enough?

When did they learn...
several people could sing the same song,
the same glad noise or sad chant...
that making music together
with one other person or a group
could make loneliness vanish?