The
rat in the piano
David Brown
Every night the mute girl
Sat down at the keys
And played the haunting music
That made the statues weep
Deep within the Steinway
A rat had made his home
And as he walked across the wires
His feet would change the tone
The dark notes took her places
That only rodents know
Where the ghost of her dead mother
Told her fingers where to go
And as they danced together
Between the light and the dark
Major turned to minor
Duende filled her heart
Then one day in September
Her father glimpsed the rat
He stuck it with the bread knife
Between C and D flat
She stared down at the Steinway
And saw the bloody stain
She whispered to her fingers
"
Things will never be the same"
Food took the place of
music
She just gorged and gorged
'till she couldn't spread her fingers
To play diminished chords |
