the musicality of our lives

on my way to work in the mornings
sometimes I risk an extra five seconds to watch
the people walk up and down streets,
their headphones on, music plugged into their ears,
trying to pair the burnt out cola taste of everyday mundanity
and pretend they aren't matching the pace of their travel
to the bass & kick drum patterns of their sunrise soundtrack

what I guess no one has ever told these people
is how they forgot how the world around them 
has been playing its own tune, too

the gentle earth awakens
humming under the varying percussive rhythms of 
feet pitter-pattering on the concrete, making their 
own different destinations known

and the band of riroriro perched on their stage
made of branches harmonises,
their music stands swaying in the wind

three friends wait at a bus stop, limbs in a choir of each other
as they sing three part harmony
(the alto argues and beats her knee, the baritone mocks her with love,
the soprano keels over and peals with lilting laughter)

an improvised jazz tune lingers
between two workmates' syncopated chatter
and the tender conclusions of romantic period pieces
form their ending arpeggios as a mother bids her child goodbye
at the school gate
excited dogs bark in staccato upon meeting,
their owners apologising, "sorry to slow down your melody"

if people stopped to listen
we'd all believe ourselves our own musicians
who knows? perhaps we'd all start to dance with each other too