Sunday, 16 March 2025

DARKNESS & A PIANO IN A SURREAL SANCTUARY... (My new poem about late night joints in 1930s New York...)

 Darkness & A Piano In A Surreal Sanctuary…



It recurs, not so much as a dream

But as a lingering, intriguing thought,

Barely discernible, yet somehow familiar,

Which infiltrates the very boundaries of the mind.


A dark, smoky room, barely lit by a beam

Of light upon a grim wall, emanating from a wrought

Iron candlestick. A pianist, unseen and unfamiliar

Plays a slow tune, mellow, bluesy, slow and refined…


Dark thoughts weaken and from the consciousness stream;

The bewilderment is retained, yet the stress is less fraught.

Unseen, not judged but becalmed by the peculiar

Almost distant atmosphere, I feel to its curious spell resigned.


It is somewhere and yet nowhere, gloom with a hidden gleam,

Strangely comforting for the wavering and the distraught.

     The mind delves into the safety of the place, so insular,

An emotive sanctuary, ethereal, elusive and evoked to spellbind…


Pete Ray

16th March 2025…   


The two songs ‘Piano In The Dark’ by Brenda Russell and ‘One For My Baby’ by Frank Sinatra have always intrigued me.





The poem above is how I feel when I think of smoky bars and clubs in back in the day America.



The atmosphere and music late at night have conjured up my words… 



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