In the continuing effort to keep my promise to my eldest princess, this poem is based on The Twilight Zone, Season 1: Episode 32:

https://flic.kr/p/uzJxST

A Passage For Trumpet
by Michael Romani

Somewhere beyond that mystic infinity
A trumpet swells out its rich melody
Joey Crown's quest is to pluck that note
Out of thin air that is original and not rote
Serving up pleasantries under stained glass
Or, at least blast out something that will pass

He and his horn still have a lot of years
He'll blown hard to bring the world to tears
His buddy the star passes change for his pocket
In memory of when he had it and didn't just talk it
Bad hooch had taken him from his good ole days
It had taken over his life and all of his ways

It is hard to communicate the fullness of heartbreak
When half of his life and his words are at stake
When he is drunk, he is Gabriel with a golden horn
Notes waft as symphonic jewels from the day he was born
When he's high, it comes out as a pure sort of beauty
Filled with grace and magic as his last dignity

Sober he is just a plain sort of very ordinary
Tired of hanging around not being extraordinary
Playing for himself with no one else around
There deep in the pocket, he finds his sound
He has had enough of feeling so very alone
He's ready to make his jump into the Twilight Zone

Down to the pawn shop to sell his last dreams
The ca-ching of the register sells his screams
There is nothing left for him; nothing at all
The beautiful music man's pride takes its fall
Stepped out into the street; struck down by a truck
This might well be the last of his bad luck

When you're a ghost, next to no one really sees
Distraction leads to frustration and then angry pleas
The gag is that there is no mirrored reflection
Slowly bit by bit, he starts to make the connection
Bit by bit, he realizes he is just plain ole dead
It is an unnerving thought that runs on in his head

Joey Crown has at last found some sort of success
He feels himself a hit at being the after life's guest
Pouring himself a drink and calling it on the house
The juke box reminds him of when he was not such a louse
Suddenly, from nowhere Gabriel blows on his horn
With the sweetest solo since before Joey was born

Gabriel invites Joey to up the ante and step on up
An invitation to take a bow and sip at the winner's cup
You see, it turns out that ole Gabe is an expert on horn
He has been since even before Joey was even born
With a smile, Gabe invites Joey to give his horn a play
As Joey begins to wail, Gabe catches his beat with a sway

Life is funny for those who willfully fail to hear
More dead than alive, shuffling jive and barely there
But in this world of ghost driven second chances
Gabriel lays it on down as Joey's questions advance
He is stuck between the real the dimness of shadow
Mortality's game show of stuck between, lost in limbo

It is all really a matter of God given reference
And Gabriel is there to give him his preference
So much is forgotten as life hurriedly passes by
And Joey has been lost on a bridge of sighs
Life is full of chances if only we might take it
Joey wants to go back for another chance to make it

Slow walk and straight talk right on down the line
Gabriel lays out the cards both harsh and sublime
God gave him talent to make people tap their feet
Laugh a little, cry a little, dancing on the street
It is a something not a nothing meant to waste
And there is a lesson to be learned post haste

As he leaves, Gabe says his name is short for Gabriel
In a pointed reminder that Joey is more than capable
Of being more and living more and playing all the more
If he grasps this bit of reality to become his cure
Blowing horn up on a New York City roof top
It is a beautiful tune that should never, ever stop

It is the bugle and him until death do they part
He has the music and he plays it from his heart
A newly found friend encourages him to play
And in gratitude, he listens next to what she will say
In hearing her, he learns a thing more about beauty
If you listen close enough, it is reflected in his melody

Life is like that when we stop and pause to listen
Filled with lessons and stars that really glisten
It truly is not all that very hard to do
To pause a moment, long enough to grab a clue
The lessons learned deep down, we make our own
Especially those learned in the Twilight Zone

(c) September 5, 2017  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved