Voice

Which voice do you choose to hear?
Will it be the one shrill voice
That grates on the ear like fingernails on a chalkboard
Like scratches chiseling or a belching chant
Torturous
Noise for the sake of noise, without a tune
Those cacophonous clanging cymbals
The prima donna who hears only his or her own part
Missing the point entirely of what it means to truly make music
Or the hollow, empty voice
That draws one in like a black hole
Lost forever
Sucking us into the despairing void and away from all that is holy

No,
Give me the voice that calls me to harmonies
Soaring to the heights like incense
Rising, expanding, and rising again
Like the Brahms Requiem that moves me to tears
Voices listening to other voices
Calling on each other to be our better selves
Connecting and joining
Rising and falling
Moving ever toward the
One
Who calls, beckons, connects, welcomes
Give me ears to hear this Voice