I always listened to
the dud notes

the mute notes that went
doh instead of do

as the music stumbled
but recovered just in

time to be
embarrassed with

the piano going all shy
at having let out

a no noise note.

I watched fascinated
as the key was depressed

and an awkward silence
tried to catch up with

the rest of its
brother notes.

Soon they were
the only notes

I listened to
as I

strung them
together in my mind

a musical necklace
of a silence

like snow
falling

as the dark caught up
with the light

and turned it
into the night

before Christmas
Eve's

eve.