the book of whimsy ✓

piano

i've been playing piano since i was five years old :) do y'all play any instruments??

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white keys

smooth

under your

fingers

small hands

that can barely

reach

five notes apart

splayed

across the

sea of

black and white

shiny and sleek

you thought it

would be

easy

to learn how to

play

it looked

easy enough

just press down

on the keys

and the music

would come

but it was a lot

harder

than that

and now

as you sit down

on the bench

that you've sat on

a hundred thousand

times

in your life

and your fingers

find the keys

you are drawn back

into the memories

scales

up and down and

up and down

until your fingers were

stiff and sore

metronomes

tapping monotonously

as you try

again and again

to learn the right

rhythm

you thought it would be

easy

how wrong you

were

the reflective

black

of the exterior

polished to perfection

and over the years

you grew to

hate

those hours

spent wasted

playing note after note

reading sheet after sheet

frustration

tears

screaming fights

with your parents

over music

so many times you just

wanted to quit

so many times you

didn't

and those keys

at times

were your best friend

your lover

your home

and those keys

taught you lessons

that you wouldn't have

learned

from anything else

and every time you

sit down

in front of the

now-dusty piano

and your fingers

now bigger

hands able to reach

ten notes perhaps

hit the keys

and you play a

song

you reminisce

about the days

when you could not

play

this piano

when the music

didn't come like

tears to a grieving soul

and you smile

because you could not

imagine

your life

without it