Play It Again

“Play It Again,” captures bittersweet memories and emotions of family and friends who gathered at our house on Friday or Saturday nights. The men played music. Women talked and laughed. We children played outside until exhaustion and sleepiness overtook every ounce of energy.

 

Five men, wives and kids in tow,

circled the kitchen floor

where they plucked, twisted, and tuned

banjo, guitars, fiddle, mandolin.

Chatter played tag between notes—

“Sounds like the squeak on Pop’s old barn door.”

“This could take all night.”

“Sure is hot, ain’t it?”

Laughter followed,

easy, relaxed, relieved.

“Well, boys, what will it be?”

“How about ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’?”

And the music began

How could they know,

in their twenties and thirties,

the direction their lives would take—

a daughter with cancer,

a son on drugs,

a wife’s death

(don’t men usually die first?).

Gatherings slowed,

then stopped,

as life’s stresses took their place …

until two tagalong children

begged to gather again

and record it—

you know—

just in case …

Another circle,

instruments tuned,

chuckles mingled with memories.

And the music began

amid rusty mistakes,

forgotten runs,

and the joy of gathering again

to play it again—

one last time.

“Praise [God] with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:3-6 NKJV),

Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash.