By David Roth
© 28th March, 2005
It transported me
To another time
And another place.
I thought it was
Something else entirely
When I read the title.
I had images of slicked back
Duck tail hairdo’s,
Bobby socks and leather jackets,
Poodle skirts, hot rods,
Dreamy eyed girls,
Slick, tough looking guys.
Then the music started,
And the bubble burst.
The images I heard
Were radically different
Than the images
The title evoked.
Not enough ‘O’s’ in smooth
To describe that trumpet,
And the faces I saw.
Image of the past
And a man long counted
Among life’s missing.
I could see his face,
And hear his sumptuous horn,
Eyes closed, lost in the music,
And I had to ask myself again,
What became of the man?
Where is he now?
For the music I heard him play
When I was a child,
Was a gift that stayed
Even when he left,
And the empty feeling
Is less so
When I hear that horn,
Taking me back
To another time and another place.
