Music in the Air

Music in the Air

Charles Hughes

Now nights, while the piano stood awake,
It played songs that a daughter used to play
Before she and her family moved away,
Leaving behind those things too much to take.
One night, a summer night, a waltz by Strauss—
Light on its feet, one-two-three, smiling, dressed
In frilly grace notes, at its prettiest—
Danced through the dark and mostly empty house.

There lived next door, alone, an old, old man.
He hadn’t gone to sleep that night, instead
Listening, lying face up on his bed,
To music in the air, to his mind an
Angelic gift he couldn’t comprehend.
In time, he fell asleep, slept peacefully
Like a small child after a birthday. He
Would sleep and never hear the music end.

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Charles Hughes
Poet & Lawyer

Charles Hughes has published two books of poems, The Evening Sky (2020) and Cave Art (2014), both from Wiseblood Books. His poems have appeared in the Alabama Literary Review, Amethyst Review, The Christian Century, Literary Matters,  Spiritus, and elsewhere and are included in the anthologies, Taking Root in the Heart (2023) from Paraclete Press and An Outcast Age (2021) from Little Gidding Press. He worked for over 30 years as a lawyer and lives in the Chicago area with his wife.

Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir