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Poetry The Haunted Pianist by Hannah Faoileán

The World Between the Words
There's a black cloud brewing in a sun-drenched sky.
There's a flooded thunder-cloud threatening to pour.
A wild piano's playing to a downcast eye,
and a picture's lying broken on the floor.

A woman there is smiling to the world every day.
There are plastic flowers blooming in her hall.
Many people praise their beauty then continue on their way
for they do not see what's hidden there at all.

A telephone keeps ringing on a stand by the stair,
but she knows there's nothing left for her to say.
So she sits at her piano and she tries not to care.
She will shut her eyes and let her fingers play.

A wild piano bellows out a vehement refrain.
A fiery tear falls down and hits a key.
A storm is battling chords inside her volcanic brain,
and her song is begging God to set her free.

She plays and she plays while the world marches on.
They don't notice that the flowers all stay the same.
The storm begins to settle and the tears seem to have gone,
and a woman there is smiling once again.

But a dark cloud still hangs over a question why,
and a picture lies abandoned on the floor.
A wild piano plays on to a downcast eye.
She pretends it doesn't matter anymore.
 

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