Echoes on the Road

“The sound of the air blasts rolled down the hillside and over the fields. With never a pause, tiny figures in gray next to each gun quickly reloaded. Alessandro’s infatuation with Janet was overwhelmed by the imperative of the guns, for they were deeper even than thunder. ‘Ka-phoom! Ka-phoom! Ka-phoom!’ This was the sound that, on the Western Front, had begun to drown out the music of the world. It was clear to Alessandro, and easily understandable, that, for some, music would cease to exist. But not for him, not for him. The electricity rose up in his spine and he trembled not from shock but because, over the sound of the guns, he was still able to hear sonatas, symphonies, and songs.”

– From A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin