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the piano in the corner
I'm that piano
The one sitting
In the corner
All alone
I'm covered with
Grime from
A thousand
Hands touching
Never playing
And the
Smoke-filled bar
That used to
Be over there
It's now a
Posh restaurant
And the new owners
Just left me
Here in
My corner
Because they
Couldn't figure out
How to get
A once-grand piano
Out of
Non-grand sized
Windows and doors
There's an
Old man that
Lives about
Fifty miles away
That could
Tell them
That the
Place was
Built around me
Because
Daddy's little girl
Wanted to give Mommy
A very special present
Along with
The house that
They were building
And put me in
Before they put
The walls up
Mommy loved the present
She loved
Me
And she’d always
Sit with me
Everyday
Coaxing a
Lullaby to help
Her little girl sleep
I’m not sure
What happened
To that family
But one day
Someone in
A blue uniform
Interrupted her
As she was
Caressing me
And said something
In low urgent tones
She paled as white
As the ivory
My keys are
And grabbed
Her little girl
And ran out
Of the room
Barely remembering
To lock the door
Behind her
She didn’t come back
Her sister came
To pack everything
Into cardboard boxes
A family’s lives
Put away into
Neat little
Tan cubes
The next people
That came here
Didn’t really care
About me
They’d use me
As a table
Or a chair
Just perch whatever
They wanted to
On top of me
They didn’t
Last very long
Then it was empty
For a long time
One of the windows
Was broken
So the cold wind
Made me all
Out of tune
Then these new people
Came in
Ripping up the
Musty old carpet
Showing the
Hardwood floors
That I remembered from the bar
They rebuilt the kitchen
And put wires into
The floor and ceiling
They didn’t touch me though
Except to drape
A heavy cloth over
When they were painting
And soon it
Became a restaurant
With velvet curtains
And polished floors
I was half hidden
Behind leafy plants
And well placed shelves
Left to become memories
But there's a
Tiny handprint
On a leg from
A toddler that
Got away from
An inattentive mom
Who was talking
On the phone
To her sister
When she noticed
Her kid was halfway
Across the room
And an inch
Away from
Licking me
She ran
Her heels clicking
On hardwood floors
Yanking her
Little baby back
As if I was
Radioactive
The mom kept on
Coming back
Because she liked
The food
And liked
The waiter even more
And I got
A collection
Of fingerprints and smudges
Each slightly higher
Than the one before
Each lasting longer
Than the one before
As the mom flirted
With the guy who
Brought her food
And gave her his heart
Along with the dessert plate
They didn’t show up
For a while
But the next time
They all came together
And the adults had
Matching rings
On their left hands
That they kept glancing at
And smiling softly
The kid
Made it all the way
On the bench this time
As the former waiter
Whispered something
To the mother
I watched the kid grow up
As his parents came
Back to the place
They’d first met
Sharing glances
I hadn’t seen
Since daddy’s little girl
Plotted with her father
To give the best
Mother’s day present ever
When the kid
Was about the height
Of the man he’d
Called father ever
Since he could remember
A man came in
To tune and polish me
To a shine I
Barely rembered
The two of them
Came in one day
And started dancing
In the space
Between tables
Excited that they’d
Bought the place
They’d first met
Their son
Sat down at
My bench
Stretched
And started caressing me
With touches
I hadn’t felt
Since the place
Around me used to be
A place where
Mommy would wheedle
Lullabies as daddy’s little girl
Was rocked to sleep
In daddy’s lap
Or when someone
Would play the
Recommendations given
To them by a person
With their hands clasped
Around a glass
Filled with amber fire
The same smile is on his face
One part wonder
At the sounds
I’m making for him
And two parts
Concentration
To not mess up
His gift to
His parents
The plants and dividers
Were removed
And I was
Center stage
I got played
More often
Sometimes by him
And later
After the mom and former waiter
Had turned white
With age and
The toddler who’d left smudges
On a grimy piano
Brought in a girl
And later,
They got matching rings
And even later,
They brought in a baby
And played lullabies to it
As it gurgled
And sat it on their laps
As they grazed
My keys lightly
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