For Elizabeth,
Piano discovered you,
Bound you up in it’s sweet tangled ribbons of melody;
(The keys timed with your steps)
The white keys,
(For the snowy wool in the mills of your childhood)
The black keys,
(For the muddied streets of London where adulthood greeted you)
Finally shedding the navy blue uniform,
For the intangible silks of music.
You said you loved classical music,
(Beethoven’s sprawling genius)
And so you passed the melody on
To younger hands
(Showed them how to run their bows across the strings)
Like a breeze flitting over a pond
(How to hold the glazed wood)
Small moldable hands warming the mahogany
(How to breathe music)
An everlasting rhythm gifted to children
(The second pair of lungs)
A rest, hands poised ready to continue
But the echoes of a past tune remembered
(Your childhood demands to be heard, seen, acknowledged behind the closed doors of the past)
The rhythm slows to a gentle ritardando then floats to a feathery allegro
(Following the waves of hills that contour the Yorkshire countryside of your youth)
A sleek black body, the cover lifted to emphasize the sound;
the sharp and sudden dips and divots of the treble bridge
Like the Roman road, you lived out your childhood dream.
(With gaping holes the width of two carthorse bottoms)
The sounds of a piano are crisp, clean
(A chaotic euphony of honey for the ears)
(A small town shrouded in an iron curtain of smoke)
The sounds of a piano stick to you like the smell of the manufacturer
( It can never let you go)
The melody carries on…
Our conversation was like a piece
You were learning to play
(Humble, at first)
But you knew just the right keys to grace,
(Just the right words to stay)
Each note danced off your tongue;
(Droplets of gold)
The harmony getting stronger,
(Endless beauty)
Planting trees of experience,
(Undeniable wisdom)
Each key, a droplet in the melody.
(A drop forming the serene ocean eyes)
And it wasn’t the music alone,
(The purpose in every word)
But the essence of your beauty and love,
(Radiating)
An image of grace and kindness.
Elizabeth,
Thank you for taking the time to share a part of your life with us. Even though you were hesitant that your story wasn’t interesting enough we all agree that it was definitely worthy of a poem. We loved your sense of dry humour during our short time together and your words and appreciation for music will stay with us. Thank you for being an image of love and beauty, we hope this poem showed you how much we appreciate and will forever cherish your stories.
Love Forever,
Alyna, Reegan, Savannah
