The Street Organ

The street organ plays
Its blithe tune through the town
Winding down the alleys with the yellow leaves
It meanders down bleak avenues where
The copper-green monuments stare
At nothing...
It passes them by unheard
Waltzes with the ribbons of distant winter air
The messengers of snow
Moon-struck and gold
It croons withthe lullabies that lull
The babies back to wombs
Confuses time with its merry sombre chiming
Calling back the old
Conjures daughters, lovers, sons
Fears, mothers, seasons, minutes
Lost and found, lost love, spring and nothing
She sings like a bird that wakes up warm
And thinks the winter's over
The street organ's music is heard
For the first time here and the last time there
And not at all
Cathedral quiet and narcoric seas
In a mind of tide-mark memories
The strand of hair that falls in front of her face
He woke up and called out her name
But only the street organ answered
The street organ plays down every road
Moon-struck and gold