Her Music Braved The Darkness

For a remarkable young lady who survived Sarajevo.

 

Winter crept throughout the valley

taunting those who would not flee

Each new day a solemn funeral

another friend for whom to grieve

Little food, no heat, no windows

only the will to stay, to fight

But for those held hostage in the city

from the darkness, music, every night

  

The old piano, an ancient treasure

oh the stories it could tell

It came from a time long past away

but those years were weathered well

At keyboard’s edge, a gifted girl

from deep within the music played

As night crept upon the city

the young girl‘s hands could not be stayed

 

So she sat and played for hours

as the shells fell all around

She didn’t notice the explosions

that shook the very ground

She just played that old piano

as she awaited her time to die

She gave hope to all the people

her gift of music, every night

 

Over time the shells stopped falling

her sweet music faded away

The survivors rebuilt their city

and it thrives again today

But many still remember

the music in the night

And the girl? Oh she still plays, yes…

but to a different sort of fight.

Reviews

[J]

One of the things that makes your work especially gratifying to read is that it is so often inspired by the heart and doings of others and expressed in the way it effects yours. This young lady's story is absolutely beyond courageous, and your sharing it in your beautiful verse is positively inspiring.

Again, I am in awe of where your heart takes you.
;-) ~j

[TL Boehm]

amen. this one illicited tears as I read it.

[Gandré]

I absolutely adored it. What an expression! the tragics nailed.

[Rhiannon Dragonraine]

I really like this it has a wonderful rythm to it and the story is amazing. It is always inspiring to hear of stories of courageousness in crisis. Sometimes I think we in America take too much for granted and don't realize how much the little things can mean, how a simple song can bring normalcy to an otherwise diasterous situation. This piece is a wonderful reminder of everything we have been blessed with~ thank you.

[Genie]

Many thanks to Emily for sending this my way -- this is exquisite. And haunting, as someone else said. It's beautifully crafted, as lyrical as I imagine the music must've been. Her story and the way you've rendered it remind me of the stories that came out of the concentration camps of WWII and how music kept so many people alive, at least in spirit.

I like not knowing what her new fight is. I don't need to know that at this point, although I can imagine various possibilities. Still, I imagine her determination to survive will carry the day and that she will, somehow, provide beauty to others yet again.

[Deborah Leah Krempa]

A wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. Debileah

[A.T.B.]

This poem speaks to me. I am here in Baghdad. Gun fire, mortars, and explosion are part of the everyday life. But I see people everyday persevering in their quest for normalcy; they go out to work everyday risking to be kidnapped; they go shopping for necessities despite the fact that their markets have been blown out by VBIEDs and suicide bombers; they visit friends in neighborhood garroted by a marauding divisive insurgency that enforces sectarianism. Students go to schools; musicians play music; poets are back to the famous Al-Mutanabi street. The resolve of love and beauty in the face of hate and horror is riveting. I am touched. Thanks Emily Burns for sending me here.

[Captain Blackheart (The..]

A very touching and heartfelf piece. It is a beautifullywritten piece and I am so glad that Emily sent it my way....Truly touching!!!

[Jenny Davis]

The piano is one of my favorite instruments so this hooked me straight away...this young girl's passions were written so eloquently and the ending stanza proves that there are still things left in the world needing more triumph and music...I am glad to have come across this :)

[Pema Dorje]

... this is an awesome piece with historical sagacity and a sweetly human perspective ... yet by the light therein showing the darknesses about that humankind lives in poverties of blame where survival and fighting are the same ... the limericks were set as jewels in a crown and the imagery played like music .... wondrous write, Ak

[C. Harter Amos]

Hauntingly sad, hauntingly beautiful work. The fact the girl is an unnamed victom of the war hit me with extra force as she plays and waits to die. The poem itself is well written, but the story was one step beyond that. It really reaches out and touches your heart with bravery and innocence hand in hand. I don't know what her new fight is, but I pictured her playing for crowds and her, not as innocent, safer but with a more complex life so that existance in the ordinary world becomes her new fight, maybe a harder fight when compared. I like the way you leave it up to the reader to imagine what of endless possibilities "a different sort of fight" could be.