Piano Recital ~

One icy winter evening an eight-year-old
walked across our High School stage
to a Steinway concert grand
where she sat with dangling feet
playing an Allemande
by Johann Sebastian Bach
with such perfection
that every one of us
lept to our feet and clapped
almost before she had finished.

She came to the edge and curtsied,
we applauded and kept on
till she returned, nine times,
sobbing at first, faltering next,
brushing away tears
trembling, then falling.

They carried her from the stage,
her parents' hands
that had been waiting in the wings.

Our clapping, already muffled, slowed,
with awareness dawning on us,
then ceased altogether

as light burst into our debacle
and we understood,
as if a wise man had come
to avenge her for our error,
by making us conscious of
the suffering we had caused her.