anacrusis by Allison Liu (16, Boston)

reach across these unsung measures and and pull me to you for a grace note of a moment. tell me i will play every beat in this repertoire. tell me that my hopes will rise in sweet overtones, that my spirit will swell to sforzando, that my mind will not linger on the fermata until i 
lose 
              the 
                           melody. ​

---

tell me that i will not be buried in ten bars under ornaments marked optional or under
aged-out virtuosity or under senseless discord to fill this silence or underground. tell me that
the coda is worth hearing with these ringing ears, worth singing with this bitter tongue,
worth reading with these tired eyes that blink too long sometimes. tell me in fortissimo and
mean it like an accent. even it's only a picardy third, the 
chord 
               that 
                             lies. 
even if you are crying for the double bar to come in cut time because your fingers have
grown cold upon the keys. give me what rhythms you remember, and give me what songs
once stirred your soul. fill my lungs with spacious soprano breath and my feet with the
strength to hold sustain because the audience is waiting and i can't leave this stage without
taking 
              a 
                          bow.

---

Allison Liu is a 16-year-old Chinese American writer currently studying in the Boston area. She can often be found working on her novel, photographing the unusual, and reading speculative fiction. While she is a cat person through and through, she has nothing against cute dogs. Her work has appeared in Folio Literary & Art Magazine, is forthcoming in JUST POETRY!!!, and has been shortlisted in Crashtest Magazine.