Sometimes, in the middle of the lesson,
we exchanged places. She would gaze a moment at
her hands
spread over the keys; then the small house with its
knickknacks
its shut windows,
its photographs of her sons and the serious
husband,
vanished as new shapes formed. Sound
became music, and music a white
scarp for the listener to climb
alone. I leaped rock over rock to the top
and found myself waiting, transformed, 10
and still she played, her eyes luminous and willful,
her pinned hair failing down—
forgetting me, the house, the neat green yard,
she fled in that lick of flame all tedious bonds;
supper, the duties of flesh and home, 15
the knife at the throat, the death in the metronome.
This complete Poem Text contains 124 words. This
study guide contains 6,445 words (approx. 21 pages at 300
words per page).
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