Kiri`s Piano

<br>Of all of Kiri Ito`s joys, the thing she loved the best<br>Was to play her prized piano when the sun had gone to rest<br>I used to hear the notes drift down along the silent water<br>As Kiri played the notes and scales for her dear sons and daughters<br>Now me I played piano though not as good as Kiri<br>She went in for that long haired stuff but my she played it pretty<br>The old piano had a tone would set my heart to aching<br>It always sounded sweetest though when it was Kiri playing<br>In December when the seventh fleet was turned to smoke and ashes<br>The order came to confiscate their fishing boats and caches<br>And Kiri`s husband forced to go and work in labour camps<br>And Kiri left alone to fend and hold the fort as best she can<br>But the music did not drift as often from up the cove at Kiri`s house<br>And when it did it sounded haunted played with worry played with doubt<br>For Kiri knew that soon she too would be compelled to leave<br>And the old upright would stay behind and Kiri she would grieve<br>I loaded Kiri on the bus with stoic internees<br>The crime that they were guilty of was that they were not like me<br>And if I was ashamed I didn`t know it at the time<br>They were flotsam on the wave of war they were no friends of mine<br>I went up to Kiri`s house to tag all their belongings<br>And set them out for auctioneers who`d claim them in the morning<br>One piece that I thought I`d keep and hold back for myself<br>Was that haunting ivory upright that Kiri played so well<br>But Kiri had not left it there for me to take as plunder<br>She`d rolled it down onto the dock and on into the harbor<br>That old upright in strangers` hands was a thought she couldn`t bear<br>So she consigned it to the sea to settle the affair<br>So many years have come and gone since Kiri`s relocation<br>I look back now upon that time with shame and resignation<br>For Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free<br>Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity<br>Yes Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free<br>Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity