for Dennis Freese

Onstage together
that season for Othello
you with the e-flat
clarinet you'd painted brown
to look more folksy
and you made it sound
just as exotic
and as turkish as my oud
we were a team
or a duo at least
makeup and costume
to fit the roles for which
they'd hired us
with the cast
putting on a superb show
every night
a sellout audience
ovations calling
the actors back to bow
multiple times

Our mournful tune
before the action started
set the stage
for what was coming
all to soon
even today
and knowing it's a fiction
the dark tragedy
of those three lives
still haunts me
Desdemona innocent
victim of Iago's artifice
Othello trapped in
murderous jealosy and pride
a web of lies
that caught all three
as a spider catches flies

And through it all
your friendship was the thing
that meant the most
more than the thrill
of the performance
though it was thrilling
being part of something
so alive
both in the language
and the acting
still if not
for you I would have felt alone
even adrift among that
glamorous crew
who seemed so focused
so much in their element

It's been a dozen years or more
we're still good friends
though we no longer
work together
sharing musical delights
it would take finding
a new repertoire
like those Brazilian choros
we recorded
tunes that fit our instruments
and sensibilities so well

With fingers grown
too stiff I've moved away
from the guitar
but treasure all the more
the times and melodies
that we once played
and in a safer world
when this pandemic's passed
perhaps we'll once again
join forces
to make music
that delights our senses
maybe even moves an audience
though it's unlikely that
we'll dress in costume
hold the stage
as we did
for Othello