Fingers fly 'cross keys of ivory,
Dancing, producing a fighting song.
Improvise o'er the olden melody,
Never yet striking a note wrong.
Inside the music, a battle rages.
Low bass bellows and high notes shriek.
Combatants ready, the fight engages.
Octaves fire cannons, a power technique.
A rapid-fire trill of sharp notes keen
Pierces through Major C's battalion.
C's ally, G the Fifth, last reaches the scene
Riding hard on Black F, his stallion.
Now the evil contender, Flat E,
Nearing the skirmish with dual gat,
Downs the mighty Major G
Firing musketballs of B Flat.
No black-key bullets has Major C,
But snatching G's sword,
He rides a heavy chord
Straight t'ward the vile Flat E.
Outside chaos, the anthem intensifies.
Swelling, building, surging -
C drives the sword 'tween Flat E's eyes
At the end of the keyboard: ping!
The piece is over; this tale of bravura complete.
In the ranks of the Eighty-Eight, such daring heroes you shall meet.
YOU ARE READING
Rhyme & Reason - Poetry
PoetryTwenty poems you won't want to miss. "I wrote a book of rhyme and reason, of simple words for time and season." A best-of compilation, containing selected entries from my previous works: Poems of the Left Hand, Spring and Light, and Ecru Skies. Also...
