The Performance Poem by Boghos Artinian

A renowned pianist
with Aztec features
performing
a piano concerto
by Beethoven.
My imagination
takes him back
five hundred years
atop a Mexican pyramid,
performing a sacrifice
to the sun.
He slits open
the chest of the victim
and extracts the heart
still beating, and raises it
with both hands
towards the sun.
The Aztecs, in thousands,
around the pyramid
clap and roar.
Suddenly I'm back
in the hall
as the pianist with Aztec features
stands triumphant
and bows
to the roaring audience