[Martin Elster]

FACE THE MUSIC

You face the music, see the pitches
and rhythms freckling my face,
then make some thunder with your bass,
the resonance of which bewitches

your listeners, all in a trance
as if you were some great magician.
Yet no one has the least suspicion
you never memorize the dance

of notes. So, were you to mislay
your priceless music score — yes, me! —
since your deficient memory
would not recall what you must play,

in shame you’d leave the stage, my friend.
Face the music, pal, you need
this paper with those signs you read.
Without me, your career would end!