Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
JAZZICAL MOODS
In my teens
asked in solfege class
to sight read
the violin passages
upon menacing pages
of difficult fingering
in Milhaud’s La Creation
du monde,with its fugue
jazz inspired,
I would go to the Seine
in the close waters
of my own musical
inebriation
and imagine caresses
from a resonated hour
and then resume my studies
slowly realizing Milhaud’s
monumental connection
into the musical lives
of Mingus,Ellington
and Brubeck
who named his son
Darius,
and after the lycee
I would listen
at the loneliest nights
to Moon Indigo
or Jazzical Moods
as an ardor’s lyricism
would refresh me
by my opaque rosin
with the violin in my arms
and for a whole month
I wanted to be
in love with the body
of this floating music
and later have a companion
on a fresh blanket
by the Seine
to share Third Stream.