The Blue Moon Review - Poetry

Poem by Lewis Turco

Blues for George Gershwin
1898-1937-1998

When I was three you stepped out of the light.
When I was three years old you spurned the light
And wandered off into the dark of night.

You left behind a melody or two,
A tune, a song, a melody or two,
And that was quite enough for you to do

To justify your stay among us here,
To pay your way while you were with us here
Upon this mortal coil, this spinning sphere.

When I grew up I heard the songs you made,
I listened, and I learned the songs you made
And wished, oh! how I wished that you had stayed.

I do not understand why you were taken
So young. Some force of Nature was mistaken
When it decided to leave the world forsaken

Of all that possibility of song,
That minstrel's bag of melody and song
That now we'll never hear forever long.

Therefore we pick your bones and make up tunes
Out of the scraps you left, those scraps of tunes
Your brother Ira kept through nights and noons

Until he got too old and joined you there
Wherever you are, rose up and joined you there
To help you strike those strings in the ringing air.

"I wrote this after a Gershwin program at Chautauqua by Richard Glazier--went to bed and began writing it in my head, got up and finished it." --Lewis Turco