Satie

 

Nightfall descends slowly upon a city scene

Ninety years ago beneath gas lamps and tramcars

A shower of rain has abated leaving mirrored pools

People come and go as does the traffic to and fro

I subdue the sound I hear and superimpose my piano solo

One more in keeping, not with silence, but at odds with what I see

A more tranquil and melancholic atmosphere pervades

Is it Paris, Madrid or Vienna or a grand combination

A time of gaiety and plenty with war rumbling in the distance

The tempo of my piano quickens like a human heart beats

A flurry of snow is caught in the evening wind

Still I permit no sound but only that of a solitary piano

A world is created to entrance and captivate

Lights twinkle from shop windows as the piano keys do tinkle

An atmosphere surreal with a unique quality is created

I shall let it be just as it is, far from the noise I cannot hear

and surrender it to the sounds of eternal nostalgia