Response to Variation of a Sonnet on Eight for Ornette’s Music

by D’Anthony Hopkins

When pain exceeds the difference, All color fades to grey, Melodies turn to mournful tunes And sweet perfumes decay

The witch of question torments, While lips of submission plea, But hope flows like a mossy spring, And love sets the heart free

The teacher of splendor guides, Through birth, trust, and love's reign, As time turns like tables, And souls sleep in blissful plain

But as fire turns to falling powder, And the hearth of blood grows still, The universe proclaims its own will, On far-off red double stars, until.

So when pain exceeds the difference, And the heart sinks in despair, Let love and hope light the way, To a future that's bright and fair.