Student Concert
Only twice each year they gather
in this great hall where Elvis once
twisted his hips to hear the best
Mrs. Tilly’s music students have
to offer. The high whine of first year
violinists mixes with the rapid chording
of bluegrass mandolins, the classic
keys of Chopin pounding to the high
tin ceiling in minor keys. These children
whose days fill with horse trotting
and races up and down cotton rows
are testament to the power of rhythm,
the will of music-loving mommas
to drive the ten miles past the outskirts
of town to Mrs. Tilly’s dull-green barn,
the home to cattle, felines and feed
Mr. Tilly remodeled just before cancer
silenced the happy man forever.
From September to May, the notes
waft across the open fields sunup
to well past sunset until Mrs. Tilly feels
the sounds in her very cells
that will welcome summer to the town
she has loved since her beloved
drove her to the family homestead,
newlyweds in a ’44 Ford hoping like
the world churned by war around them
for days of sunshine, clothes drying
slowly on the line, and decades
of dancing to tunes of love.
Ramona Levacy
April 19, 2015
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