A Band Trip
This spring we dragged across the world a band
With drums, trombones, horns, saxes, reeds and flutes,
Five tubas(!), trumpets, sticks, and clarinets,
Director, daughters, sons, and parents all —
All this to play before the valley town
Within a worn and chill cathedral nave
So tall and still. But as the deep brass swelled
To sound the ancient stone and woodwinds leaped
Dancing with the ocean, who wouldn’t weep
Wrung out by lag and miles, to hear their youth
Once more resound to fill an aged space
That too the mournful hall would not let go
But echoed long a murmured measure,
Sounds of song it wanted to remember?
Samuel Hamer is a practicing attorney in Minnesota. He earned degrees in physics from Wheaton College and in law from Harvard Law School. His occasional poetry considers themes of faith, doubt, and family. Sam lives with his wife, Naomi, and three boys near Minneapolis.
Copyright © 2024 Samuel Hamer
Photo credit: Photo taken by Sam Hamer on the band trip.
