In Memoriam: Ranjit Jose (1980-2023)

Mozart’s Coronation Concerto (K 537)

is his most frequently performed

piano concerto of all (at least it was

in the nineteenth century--in ours

it is rarely heard—Absurd!)

 

The previous nine ‘Viennese concerti’

(each one of which is a gem) are,

according to most critics, better—

 

A line of exquisite fish pass

before my amazed mind, each

a brilliant rainbow, happy-sad—

 

Who am I to judge what’s best

among God’s dazzling creatures?

 

They also pass. Three years later

Mozart lay in an unmarked grave--

 

His music’s mostly sunny, although

now and then dark clouds cast brief

shadows.  Chiaroscuro, light and dark

prove even bliss doesn’t last. He knew.

 

Despite the recent death of someone dear

I pedal on—upon my stationary bike

while listening to Mozart on YouTube--

For a while I forget Ranji’s gone forever.

 

When younger than Ranjit was when he died,

I visited the cemetery where Mozart lies

in a pauper’s grave. No one knows the exact spot.

 

Once friends and I pass, after a few years

no one will remember us. (So what? Even Mozart

wasn’t music.) Nothing to say now but listen

as post-concerto silence fills the room: then, then,

Something—

                            We shall immerse his ashes

among brilliant, indifferent, Mozartian fish,

and we will sigh, and we will sing.