Jun
2013
Piano Girl
I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Ruth and Stacey over at Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
Every year on my daughter’s birthday, I give her a poem that I have written. I hope she enjoys reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. Today is her fifteenth birthday, and here is her birthday poem. Yes, she does play piano–quite beautifully.
Notes dance silently across the staffs
of a new piece of music.
Eighth notes tease the piano girl
with a strain of melody
as fingers tentatively brush against the yellowed ivory.
Chords coax her left hand into weaving harmony
among the scattered phrases.
The music reveals itself slowly
with practice and more practice
until halting chords and stumbling melody
resolve into a familiar hymn.
The notes echo through the early morning hours
and seep into spare moments
each time the piano girl gives sound to silent notes.
As the piano girl learns each new song,
she lives and learns the soundtrack of her life.
JenniferM
June 18, 2013 at 9:28 pm (11 years ago)Wow, what an incredible gift! I hope she has saved them all through the years! I loved the last line about “the soundtrack of her life”.
http://ihabloespanglish.blogspot.com/2013/06/retreating-into-writing.html
Mrs. McGriff
June 18, 2013 at 9:34 pm (11 years ago)Yes, she (well, often me) puts them in a binder to save them. I enjoy the record of her life as much or more than she does.
elsie
June 18, 2013 at 5:53 pm (11 years ago)These will be treasures that remind her what was important in her life each year. Happy Birthday daughter of Kay! My favorite line was the last. I’m still figuring out the sound track to my life.
Mrs. McGriff
June 18, 2013 at 7:22 pm (11 years ago)Thanks! I actually came up with the last line almost first. The hard part was figuring out how to get there. She does look forward to the poems. I missed one year, and she let me know it. I wrote two poems the next year to make up for it!
Maria Selke (@mselke01)
June 18, 2013 at 1:01 pm (11 years ago)Oh, this is lovely! I write my sons a letter (sent via email) for their birthdays… at least I started last year.
I should write a poem about their violin playing 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
June 18, 2013 at 1:28 pm (11 years ago)Thanks! I started out writing letters to her, but switched to poems once she was old enough to read.