Scratchy Records

I am so amazed by the effect music has on me
The opening bars of one song can transport you to
Places you never thought you’d be again, but for that one song

Today I woke cold, depressed
YM was phlegmy (love the word) and asthmatic, resulting in him going in late
And when I had gotten home from sending him,
It seemed a good plan to hole myself in my room, ironing
The steam iron gave welcome heat
And certain music gave appropriate depth to depression

Then I decided; enough.
A change of music to scratchy jazz
The CD set for Bantum that I had been
Itching to try out before gave him
Ella, Dinah, Billie, Sarah, Davis and Armstrong

Music takes you places
The way Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue will always remind me
Of Mayleen and JoycetheFairy
And Jamelia’s Superstar will always remind me of Kan
And Stephane Grappelli will always remind me of him

And so he did, an unmistakable sound
That took me back to us, years ago
That memory moving on to a week ago
When at a dinner, someone mentioned something to me
So very blasé about something so wrenching to me,
Something that no one had ever mentioned to me in my face before,
and it shocked me, so much that I burst into tears, right then, right there

And oh how I wanted to talk to you then
But time didn’t allow for it
And today Grappelli came on; I remembered the email you sent from down under
Saying, “See, I remembered your birthday!” And “this song always reminds me of you,”
And me, I made a promise to call you

So picked up the phone today
Dialled you and got your answering machine
Listening to the message I could so see you
Just waking on a cold morning or after a chilly evening nap
And recording that message

And I can see a montage of things past
Of how we’ve grown apart, our lives gone ways we never imagined
And then I wonder if the people who love us now
Will love us for our past?