Today’s guest blogger is the Reverend Arlyn Tolzmann, a retired Lutheran pastor and a chaplain at Advocate Sherman Hospital. He is also the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. His love of music comes naturally. He gifts us two of his poems expressing his joy in music:

Oopah

for some, ’tis quite enough
to sit back
observing and listening to
the overtures, mazurkas,
sonatas, and nocturnes
of life’s symphony.

For me,
much would I rather
jump into the movements,
immersed joyously
in crashing the cymbals,
bowing the strings,
thumping the tympani
and adding my own oompah.

Song within

within me rests a song
bass and treble
sharps and flats
all waiting
to burst the monotony
of rhythmed breath
and the heart’s cadence
to leap this cloistered hold
and proclaim
the greatness of the Lord
the notes are there
somewhere lingering deep within
and someday this song I’ll sing
’til then,
my life must be the song

Revered Arlyn Tolzmann