Moonlight Duet
The silver-struck
Piano plays
A lonely melody
As it tries
To capture
The Moon’s
Very first,
First Quarter,
Partial-pale song,
Filling midnight air—
But empty space
Breaks Piano’s heart
It’s alone
Up there—
But so, too,
Is Piano.
It cannot capture
the song in
the lonely, quiet dark
brave Trumpet
then plays in turn
calling out into
that lonely, quiet dark
cutting through
that empty space
in a brazen golden arc
heroic in its mission
to befriend somber Piano
knowing that they’re both
alone in a tuneless world
then Trumpet stops
then listens to the
unyielding abyss
for any signs
of connection
Piano stirs
From its
Mournful solitude
And returns
The gesture
That there
Is hope
Trumpet
cries out
with eternal
excitement
and vibrates
in tremendous,
newfound
joy
Piano knows
Just what
To say
“In Friendship
We are mighty.”
Trumpet
says,
“in
friendship
i am—”
“No,
No,”
Says
Piano.
“In Friendship
We are mighty.”
Trumpet
Repeats,
“in
friendship
we
are
mighty!”
In their
Music they
Have learned
To work
Together, together
Piano & Trumpet
Now play
With consoled,
Rekindled hearts
And with
A goal
To sing
The Moon’s
Very first,
First quarter,
Partial-pale,
Silver song,
As one
Voice
5 thoughts on "Moonlight Duet"
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Gorgeous! This form is beautiful and the narrative is so inviting and relatable—”they’re both / alone in a tuneless world.” The repetition is perfect and brings us to the wonderful closure. Love, love, love this!
😀 this friend speaks my mind 😀
Ditto ditto
Eric – Yes, we should all have “rekindled hearts”! What a wonderful way to present the story/song of Piano and Trumpet and Moon, a bluesy kind of jazz. Love when you join them at the end. Very inventive!
Eric, you’ve crafted something amazing here! Of course the hard work put into the form pays off brilliantly, but the conceit of the dialogue and all the meaning–wow! I like: “knowing that they’re both
alone in a tuneless world”