Wednesday, 27 April 2011

In Grand Style

Two Pianos

 
Two pianos sit idle in the corner of the room
Silent complements to gathering dust
Melodies once played by nimble fingers
Refrain commencing but for this mournful tune


Sunlight ripples across tarnished ebony veneer
Wire and winch bent and sprung so loose
Chipped ivory now appendages touch wood
Sounds of compositions none will ever more hear


Baby dreamt of one fine day to be fully grand
Superfluous chords will never again sing
Time takes toll on the sweetest of harmonies
Jingling keys locked the door on a practised hand


If these two pianos broken but learned with age
Could reverberate softly vibrato this air
A record of old songs they previously played
Hummingbird notes as once danced from the cage


The richness of creation an enchanting delight
Holds tranquil memories of fretful rehearsal
A childhood exhausted in front of sheet music
Torn snapshot moments forever in black and white


Days drag by toward their final evening’s glow
Slumbering stillness of an eloquent past
Damp and cold warped legs and glazed sheen
Wrinkled spine winters gone outside drifting snow



They occupied a place packed in antique ideals
Life itself enclosed in those wooden boxes
Lids now sealed heartfelt affair left unspoken
These two pianos that brought so much earlier joy
Will live in the heart after the pain of loss finally heals

*     *     *

*     *     *