This poem is taken from PN Review 254, Volume 46 Number 6, July - August 2020.
‘Confessional’ and other poems
A Rest
Manchester, 1848
The money that brought him over
came from low-grade calico.
He wished he had stayed at home.
On the night, the Irish composer –
Osborne, a friend from Paris,
who knew how unwell he was –
disobeyed Chopin’s instructions
and attended the performance
which, he would say later,
he found ‘disappointingly quiet’
until Chopin’s exit
at page 3 of the Funeral March,
having seen, he told Osborne,
a figure emerge from the piano.
...
Manchester, 1848
The money that brought him over
came from low-grade calico.
He wished he had stayed at home.
On the night, the Irish composer –
Osborne, a friend from Paris,
who knew how unwell he was –
disobeyed Chopin’s instructions
and attended the performance
which, he would say later,
he found ‘disappointingly quiet’
until Chopin’s exit
at page 3 of the Funeral March,
having seen, he told Osborne,
a figure emerge from the piano.
...
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