by HAZEL HALL

Silent Soloist

Macquarie ACT 2001 – a tanka string

trash and treasure
the porcelain boy
with cello –
she ransacks her purse
and sifts through silver

a gold coin
and the cellist is hers
she gazes
at the little face
with ecstatic smile

bow in hand
his sensitive fingers
press the strings
she can’t help thinking
of a purring kitten

on her piano
sits the youthful musician
for all to view
she almost hears strains
of a prelude by Bach