Charles Ives wakes. Wanders the whole downstairs window to window to window tailing the usual comet-trail of bandwagons, doorbells, small birds and sliphorns out from the dream that woke him.
The night-chilled house might be filling up with under-the-ice boyhood midnight Connecticut skatingpond spring waters, it's so bright. Truth is, it’s snow light...whole choirs of snow light glowing and echoing upstairs and down. Causing Mr. Ives to sing along:
loudly: Keep the Home Fires Burning!!
Yes sir, the old songs give out that much more glory in a snow light. Columbia, Gem of the... oh boy...hooray and hooray would y' look at that...it's Charles Ives's ice-skating carpet slippers scuffing up winter sparks from the carpet.
The old man's dancing up sparks, it's George Washington's birthday. Here we find the piano, exactly where Mr. Ives predicts it will be. Open up the keyboard cover. Out flies Halley’s Comet waking chickens and songbirds in all the backyards Ives can dream up...oops and oh boy and now none better, here comes on high button shoes... the Cakewalk...the Cakewalk... oh my sweet soul, the sparks that song makes all around the house, under and over this dancing old man’s winter slippers.
Jim Hazard comes from Whiting, Indiana. He's a frequent contributor to Milwaukee Magazine
and plays cornet in the Milwaukee Golden Eagles Concert Band.
