Symphony Fantastique by Geraldus John

Off stage a cello plays alone
A brown diminuendo fiercely driving
Forward the oboe's vulnerable crescendo.
While violins, seductively soothing as they are,
Enlighten, with silvery voices,
The frenetic power of orchestral thunder.

Littered with instructions, the score
Stretches the conductor's imagination.
Until, without warning, a quartet of discords
Goes off like a cracker in the hand,
And under the influence of the master
Youthful imagination runs riot.

Aggressively, upper strings dominate,
And the Dies Ire is sung and mocked
Intermingling horror with high jinks.
Suddenly the fiery blaze of Berlioz,
Switching into a Beethovian trajectory
Startles, then cedes with a devilish jig fugue.