Banjo, Dulcimer, Fiddle 

--Joan Larkin

Face resting in my palm,

I stretched out long

on the green lawn, listening.

Not listening so much as

loving how air shivered

and sorrow was a tune, a light

index finger downstroke,

a sly joke, a note that repeated.

My mind twanged with it,

grass trembled and shone,

banjo, dulcimer, fiddle

singing my story.

Hush, listen, this

song has a thousand verses.