Mandolino

Antique Mandolin
Photo from vintagemandolin.net

bridging fretwork
of six generations
we finger warm tones
of our sultry biography
played upon hills of the
quaint mezzogiorno
in villages breezy
with minstrels our lives
overlapping the music
that drifts along Roman
laid cobbles of stucco
walled donkey-cart lanes
perfect fifths sing from
double-stringed courses
arousing the voices who
gather at tables al fresco
congenial with wine
we cradle in turn of our
time our veined heirloom
this luthier legacy crafted
of rosewood and spruce
Neapolitan bowlback
inlaid with rope purfling
more than an instrument
this is our vessel
our casual joys held and
cherished in songs of two
peasant born centuries