74

He played a chord of D minor

With the seventh and let the

Keys go and the articulations

Inside rejoined their first parts

And the sense sound was yet in

The air and the fine glasses over

The bar rattled in sympathetic

Unison as he set the device in

Motion again and augmented

The fifth and allowed a flourish to

Ease chromatically from his right

And as the cadence fell and the

Wood of the harpsichord spoke in

A century for which it had been

Until this moment dark and mute.

He stopped and cracked his knuckles.

A light rain was still falling outside

And he began to play again but

Softly and as if careful not to wake

Anything, as if it were night music.

The lighter and cigarillos and his

Wallet and keys and watch and his

Rings and two coins in his pocket

Were suddenly of large gravity

And he felt dull and as half-asleep.

He came out, and back into the bar,

And for a while all seemed augmented.