Blues for Oscar

Blues for Oscar
    for Oscar Peterson, 1925-2007

I can hear his music
in my head - the way he
coaxed sweetness from

the keys, or pounded
like thunder Younger
Than Springtime.

The night my father
died, I sat alone and
played Smile (though

your heart is breaking)
over and over while
I wrote dad’s eulogy.

I no longer have those
words. But the memory
of Oscar is immortal.