Written by Carol Hamilton

Despite the long untuned instrument
and my arthritic fingers, I am practicing
the piano again, especially pieces
from the book of classic intricacies.
When young, I refused to heed
the numbers to indicate fingering
and depended on the right-foot pedal
to hold things together, the louder
the better, and the left to muffle and emote.

Now I am learning long-avoided skills,
to deliberately and correctly move
from note to note and sustain sound
and meaning without mechanical aid,
just precision and inner-light.
It is too late to make music,
of course, but there arises
this fresh delight in trying, at last,
to do something right for a change.

featured in our fall 2019 issue