The Wind in the Willows

There is an element of
human nature that binds us
to music. It enthralls and it
thrills us, whether the sound
of a waterfall, a melting glacier,
the imagined harmony of
the music of the spheres of
outer space or the inherited
trill of a bird. We respond to
the sound and the rhythm of
primitive drumbeats or the
quaintness of church bells,
wind soughing through trees
or the masterwork of a 
classical composition with an
orchestra in full command
of every instrument giving
full throat to a tone poem of
musical theatre. Most of all
music comforts, soothes and
mollifies the inner beast that
nature has created, who in its
fading years listens to the
musical sounds of memory,
held in sentimental regard
for the past and sad regret
for inevitably waning years.