Still Life: Piano

These silent white keys
were once made of elephants' teeth.
And the chopsticks ones of ebony.
Which is a type of wood,
which we didn't know,
until Peter took lessons.
 
The piano we now have is all plastic and chipboard
beneath a smart black veneer,
black as the whole room was
before the electricity returned just now,
letting me make music once more.

Light and Fear

Fear is fleeter than light
Light is unpluggably loud

Few are fond of falling
Many are stubbornly proud

Light illumines the wrong
Ignorant shadows are soft

Fear and Pride are long
Contrition lifts aloft