Elegy for Blues Piano

He still remembers summer days and nights
when field-hands came jingling into town
to hear him the play the blues on black-and-whites.

They danced and drank and got in bloody fights
and spent weekends in jail, "cooling down."
He still remembers summer days and nights

he traded for the blaze of neon lights
that lined the boulevards for miles round.
He played Chicago blues on black-and-whites

in smoky clubs, where everything was right.
The hungry crowd gave him a bluesman's crown
he still remembers. Precious days and nights

went by in glory haze. The crowds took flight
to spend their cash for some more recent sound,
forgetting faded blues on black-and-whites.

His hands like water, slow and dark and wide,
flow over keys like cities that have drowned.
He still remembers summer days and nights,
and plays his blues on broken black-and-whites.

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside