A Songwriter Carries A Piano Across The Sierras, 1853
Posted: 28 Apr 2022, 21:43
A Songwriter Carries A Piano Across The Sierras, 1853
One woman tenderly left a crate of china
behind on the trail. She wept.
Another abandoned a pump organ.
One woman carried her husband
in tightly wrapped blankets,
determined he would see the Pacific.
I've left behind plows, barrels
of nails, iron pans, a stove.
But nothing could move me to let go
of that piano. Every day
as we cross the Sierras it heaves
and slides like surf breaking
on a damaged pier.
At dusk its wide grin gleams at me.
I love it as much as any woman.
Widowed I often think
of moments with my wife, her sweetness
like spring mists.
A love for songwriting
sustains me, the piano a mistress
who lives for my pleasure,
a passion that allows me
to go forward.
One woman tenderly left a crate of china
behind on the trail. She wept.
Another abandoned a pump organ.
One woman carried her husband
in tightly wrapped blankets,
determined he would see the Pacific.
I've left behind plows, barrels
of nails, iron pans, a stove.
But nothing could move me to let go
of that piano. Every day
as we cross the Sierras it heaves
and slides like surf breaking
on a damaged pier.
At dusk its wide grin gleams at me.
I love it as much as any woman.
Widowed I often think
of moments with my wife, her sweetness
like spring mists.
A love for songwriting
sustains me, the piano a mistress
who lives for my pleasure,
a passion that allows me
to go forward.