'Skitter', Movement 3, Opus 29

Low-slung body like a bulbous hammock,
the virtuoso is poised with a still, eerie grace
in a suit of dark satin,
the thin stiletto limbs arched, ready
to play, that spindly shock disrupting
the steady rhythm of my heart.
Something startles a beginning;
the black hand wanders through
a difficult sonata.
Its dark, disturbing melody whispers
of ancient nightmares,
haunts me like its creator;
a swift, many-legged vampire
writing and dancing music all over the wall.
But this composer leaves nothing behind
only a little codetta, like a signature
at the end of the frantic, silent piece,
with its foot-stepped chords reverberating in the still air as player and song skitter out of sight.