Tiro de cuerda —

Spanish for the perfect tension
of a guitar string,
the strain that lets it
cry.

Over time, tuning and
retuning to that pitch
will weaken the string.

I have more than once
sat in an audience
and seen a player, rock god
or flamenco acolyte, snap one
and keep playing, finding
a new course among those
remaining;
but have never heard
a recording that included
that sound —

why?  Are we not most thrilled
when we can hear
death cheated
in any language,

even one we cannot pronounce?