The Organ Player

The Organ Player
By: Zachary Wampler


Fingers flying across the familiar keys
Trying to put his troubled mind at ease
He performs for an audience of one
In the hope, it will all be undone
This gift, this burden which was once his guide
Means nothing without her at his side


The church rumbles with a low groan
As the organ cries in a sorrowful tone
Eyes reading along each complex measure
A final requiem for his lost treasure
Shouting up at the man in the sky
Why did she have to die?


Music infects his mind but he cannot hear
Having lost the one he held most dear
With each note, his body moves and sways
Transitioning smoothly from phrase to phrase
The beauty forgot though to his tortured soul
Spiraling downward, spinning out of control


Around him, the masses of people applaud
Clapping silently, sometimes giving a praised nod
Surrounding him, he just wants to get away
He wants to leave and he wants to stay
When he turns around though, nobody’s there
There’s only him and despair


Sweeping his arms down the long line
Pounding the keys as he arches his spine
Ebony and ivory are all he has come to know
Tempo random, slow to fast and fast to slow
Sweat pouring as he plays out his heart
While inside, he slowly but surely falls apart


People only hear the beauty, driving him insane
Such beauty can only be found in the depths of pain
Watch his face twist into a foreshadowing grin
Suggesting that he has left this world of men
Now only a hollow shell is all that’s left behind
Still though the music violates his mind


Everyday, the organ is the only constant of time
It had seen him rise and fall in his prime
Together they had hurt, together they had bled
Not quite alive, but not quite dead
Magnifying the emotion from his fingertips
Madness now plasters the organ’s brass lips


Melody flowing like a scream from the grave
All other thought drowned out by the wave
Playing faster and faster, increasing the pace
Sporadic and rapid, void of any grace
Throwing his head back, sweat rolls down his cheek
As the organ begins to shriek


Above the church, lightning and thunder roars
Over it all though his maddening laughter soars
Filling the air, it makes the skin crawl
Organ squealing in reply, a warning to all
Approaching the final measure, the final hour
Still the music continues to devour


Fingers slowing as the last note rings out
Vision blurred, mouth dry, withered by doubt
Morning wakes, clinging to the piece he played
Resonating softly as the sound begins to fade
But silence does not come with the dawn
For inside the organ player, the music plays on