Now blue notes rise like smoke in the crowded hall,
the sudden swish of brush on drum, a forlorn 
wail fills up the horn, and now a sweet voice 
starts to hum. Piano keys ring like quick 

little bells, tinkling up and down the scale 
and linger on chords with texture thick as molasses. 
Finally, a word passes through the lips of that smooth 
singer, who moans a lament for the girl he was meant 

to be with. Thuh-THUMP, thuh-THUMP, the thumb of the upright 
bass guy plucks the string he damps, and taps 
his foot to show he feels the ache of the blues 

in his body, like all of us who’ve come here to feel 
something. Heal something. Know we’re not alone.
when the music starts, wherever we are, we’re home.