He hasn’t heard such beautiful music in years. Since his stroke, his hearing declined gradually, and now he is practically deaf. But the singing! There are solos, duets and choruses performing right at the back of his head. He’s been listening to them all day long.
“Don’t know who the composers are but these guys sing very well,” my father said to me. After he took a shower the music stopped, but resumed again as we sat down to dinner. He asked me to go to the internet and look up: old people hearing voices.
Sure enough there are articles about the phenomenon. They call it hallucination. There might be something wrong with his brain.
“That’s obvious,” said father. “At least the voices are not asking me to go murder somebody.”
“Don’t think you are capable even if they do,” I replied.
Me too, at 18. A story from my first day at Cornell University–really my first day away from home. My roommate, whom I met that day, was–disturbingly for me–both a Catholic and a wrestler. He had been gracious, showing me around campus, but he was a bit nervous too, and I was by no means certain of anything. That night, I tried to get to sleep but had trouble doing it. Suddenly I “heard”–in my head, it wasn’t coming from anywhere–“Rhapsody in Blue,” beautifully played. As I “listened” to the “music” I fell asleep. In effect, I sang myself a lullaby. I have always been grateful to Gershwin for that moment.
there–on the edge
of sleep–
guiding me into it