CCXIII and CCXIV: Returning to Piano: i and ii

"an equinoxial gale" and "Banjos"

I quit piano many years ago

to grieve. But it’s the only grief I know.

And so, to fix these years of to and fro,

I play again. Now back, back, back we go.

~~~

We rolled it in, the great big baby grand,

and then we got a carpet from the store,

and in my small garage we got it stand-

-ing in the corner right next to the door.

I sat right down when asked to try it out

and took a tune from dearest memory

which I’d learned from my brother: all about

a sailor and a marriage undersea.

We sang, and from that moment I recall

so many hours in a practice room.

So I shall find and remember them all:

the songs I never thought I could exhume.

How many heartbreaks will I soon relive?

How many tears will recollection give?

~~~

Two friends who I had never known had played

took stage to join our high school talent show,

and tuned two banjos, and I subtly prayed

that tuned they’d stay as long as they would go.

They played a Muppet song in a duet

about a rainbow and a morning star.

And though I’d wanted to, I’d not forget

the way they left my heart affixed ajar.

Someday I found a book of children’s songs,

and in it was the fated tune they’d sung.

And there I go whenever my heart longs

for days when we were close, and free, and young.

Rainbows indeed have no secrets to hide,

I tell myself with mine all hid inside.