If This Piano Could Talk

if this piano could talk
it’d sing a song in a waltz time
it’d play ragtime ‘til three a.m.
and then it’d sit back and it’d take a deep breath
and dream about starting again

102 with a checkered and shady past
before the blues was brand new
and Liszt’d recently exhaled his last

before prohibition, before the great world war
just 44 states called us home
before flappers and bluegrass
before the packers, before plastic
before my grandparents were born

Chopin would be proud
you’ve lived nearly three time his age
and you’re sitll clear and loud
you really ought to be gracing some stage

if this piano could talk
it’d sing a song in a waltz time
it’d play ragtime ‘til three a.m.
and then it’d sit back and it’d take a deep breath
and dream about starting again

© David Stoddard 1998