On tbhe First Violin

I sat writing on a liner in the starboard lounge Looking out over the sea And as I wrote, I listened to the band Playing in a plaintive key On the first violin was a brown-eyed girl Her hair hung down in a flaxen curl And when she had completed what she had to play She looked up from her music and I caught her eye On the first violin was a brown-eyed girl Her hair hung down in a flaxen curl And as she played in a plaintive key I caught her eye and she was looking at me After the recital she demurely rose Turning away from me Out upon the deck breathing the salt-spray air Gazing on a troubled sea We engaged in talk and her eyes turned sad She was recently bereaved of a long-loved lad He was fighting as a conscript in the Kenyan war When a Mau-Mau bullet struck him and it laid him low On the first violin was a brown-eyed girl Her hair hung down in a flaxen curl And as she played in a plaintive key I caught her eye and she was looking at me I did not see her disembark We had connected but too soon Her healing heart would find a path To someone else With a busy schedule to pursue Of publishers and speaking coast-to-coast At small cafés, I ended days In missed romance I was on a sister-liner when a year had passed Homeward bound and free In the starboard lounge, I was waiting for the band Without expectancy The conductor stood with his baton poised Gesturing the audience to quell their noise When the first violin took the stage to play My brown-eyed girl was smiling and she caught my eye On the first violin was a brown-eyed girl Her hair hung down in a flaxen curl And as she played in a major key She caught my eye and she was smiling at me And as she played in a major key She caught my eye and she was smiling at me