Painted on a Piano

Fingers run across zebra stripes, tumbling and whirling

With each touch a new sound comes

piercing the air and parting the cool autumn breeze

The leaves fly with the spirit of the music

And the moon dances gracefully

Lighting the night sky along with the last fireflies

Marking the end of a summer

Lazy, lemonade dripped days are now slowing to an end

and children march like drums

to the pace of an out of tune school bell

Ringing in and out of time,

the funeral march of childhood

as maturity sets in.

Beards are grown and men are made of lanky freckle-faced awkwardness

Longing to be understood.

Hearts pound and once more the beat is set

This time of nervousness and hope

That maybe this will finally be the date

where the girl becomes a princess

dancing with the shadows of her past and turning them into

the light of the future.

The birds sway to her rhythm, picking up speed

Round and round mumbling sound 

Faster and faster

The world spins with her head

Lightning strikes with the climax

of new life and off they go

The notes jumping from the page scattering

Every which way following no pattern

Trying to learn society’s rhyme and meter but

not quite catching on to its syncopation

Like a lion always after its prey,

Hoping that maybe it will soon satisfy the hunger

that never seems to go away

Chaos fills the air and the zebra runs, trying to find safety

From the lion that constantly chases its hide

But there are only eighty-eight places to turn and the fingers in their confusion

Smack into each other

Silence