If Machiavelli Were a Musician

Here is another in my series of historical people in different occupations than for what they are remembered. 

If Machiavelli Were a Musician

                           after Carl Tomlinson

If Machiavelli were a musician

he would have held first chair

in the violins, tuning all the string

sections to his timbre preconcert

before sitting and interpreting

the score with the orchestra under

the eyes of the maestro, sometimes

bowing the melody alone before fading

into the background, but always

controlling the other instrumentalists

with his tempo, and never once

forgetting to applaud the conductor

after a performance.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor