Broken Piano

As I walked out one morning fair,

I found myself drawn thoughtlessly

Back to the place we used to live,

And you still do, now without me.

Around the back, away from the road,

Behind the bins, beneath your window,

I found the hulk, the rusting bulk

Of a shattered old piano.

Someone had torn out some of the keys

With cruel care, not thoughtlessly,

In such a way that one could only play

Minor melodies.

So I sat down in my sadness, beneath your window,

And I played sad songs on the minor keys of a broken piano;

A sinner amongst saved men on the banks of the muddy Thames.

As I have wandered through this city,

Like a child lost in the London fog,

From Highgate Hill, down to the river,

Then washed downstream past the Isle of Dogs,

I've had time enough to think upon

The question of what kind of songs

That you would choose to listen to

Now that I am gone.

And as I drift beneath that bridge,

Just down the road from where you live,

I've often thought I might have caught

Your voice upon the wind.

But as I stroked those broken keys

You did not join in harmony.