in reefton

danny boy
played the piano -

sweetly.

people drifted down the high street
shaded cafés -

thoughts.

a lover
drinking coffee -

alone.

nothing much doing
on a quiet day -

in reefton.

x

Image; Art Johnstone. ‘In Reefton’. New Zealand Feb 2023

Danny Boy [solo piano] - YouTub

One of those unexpected days; in reefton. Simple things. Just a total pleasure to allow oneself the luxury of floating away…thoughts, dreams, lovers.

This tune?

It was being played gently on a piano outside; it’s melancholic harmonies adding to the sense of peace, gentleness.

What conspired to place me here at such a moment in my life?

I’m lucky man.

Image; Art Johnstone. ‘A quiet day in Reefton’; New Zealand 2023

O Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen and down the mountainside
The summer's gone and all the roses dying
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
O Danny boy, O Danny boy, I love you so.

Frederic Weatherly