HEARING BELLINI #293

Hearing Vincento
Bellini's opera
"I Puritani"
set on the radio
at the Met today
with the enigmatic poet
at his libretto by Count Pepoli
takes me back
to Joan Sutherland
and Pavarotti
when after my music lesson
we're playing duets
thinking with regrets
about those days
of reading Milton
and anything
more random in lyrical
poetry now appearing
in my avuncular memory
on my Saturdays
at the Boston Symphony
hearing the jaws of singers
open with consolable music
of vocal jocular applause.