Pianos are keys
not just to
themselves but to
me for they
unlock my thoughts 
and my heart 
they are sails
that I hoist 
and head into 
the direction of 
my imagination and 
they also are 
the keys to 
which I hum
myself merrily along

In this absence 
I find comfort 
a quiet kind 
fresh coffee brewing 
kind kettle boiling 
kind in this 
these little things 
I hear music 
made of simple 
whispers in dark 
creak of floor
this absence is 
not my absence 
I’m here where 
nothing else is 

If I’m forced
to remember you 
I’m going to 
remember you the
way that you 
were and not 
as you are 
like the cabin
up north when 
I was a
child bigger than 
life and holding 
my wildest dreams 
and not like 
it is now
some old shanty
with nothing to 
say but sold

Sometimes even 
I feel 
lonely oh
I know 
I’ve heard 
it before 
not you 
yes I 
sometimes I
I do 
having never 
said those 
two words 
to someone 
special before 

I have always said 
what was needed to 
but this place has 
never been a comfort 
to say what’s needed 
requires tremendous empathy mixed 
with humility mixed with 
compassion respect and conviction 
it’s a terrible place 
the apex between sin
and redemption between darkness 
and reconciliation a place
where angels and demons 
frequently barter for souls 
and I their broker