Farewell

By: Ella Yu

This poem illustrates the retrospective time of grief when the narrator’s piano got moved away. Although she owned this piano for just three years, she has built a powerful bond with it and regrets the limited amount of time. Now, she craves to see it again.

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Ding-dong, ding-dong, the phone rings.

Her heart sinking and her fingers trembling.

As she picks up the phone, she knows--

It is time for the unknown.

She once joked carelessly,

“No worries, I still got time”

The truck rushed in recklessly--

With eyes closed, she resigned.

La Campanella rang across the vacant hallway,

She walked between the clicks.

Wishing to wander in hymns, always

It listened quietly, without interrupting.

Raindrops kept hitting the leaves;

She cried alone with Pathétique.

Hoping the world would soon forgive--

It listened, and showed a pensive smile

As clouds fly, it stayed.

As seasons change, it stayed.

As she hangs up the phone, still it stayed.

All she remembers is that it never returned.

Note: La Campanella is one of the Paganini Etudes Franz Liszt wrote for piano, and Pathétique is the name of Beethoven Sonata No. 8.