Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My Piano Student

We have sat there together
in front of her piano
on Sundays at noon
for three years.

It looks as though
I am teaching her
about F chords
chromatic scales
fortissimo
pianissimo
staccato
legato.

And I am.

Here she is
before me
Eleven years old
dark hair dark eyes
quiet demeanor
slow to answer with words
quick to respond with her
fingers moving
to "The Spinning Wheel"
which I used to play
when I was eleven.

So what is it, again,
that I am teaching her?

How to sit
before what you love
and make it sing.


(c)Sharon Weinstein          1995
from Celebrating Absences

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