Trevor Bailey: ‘Piano Bar’, ‘Jacaranda’, A Match for Shiva and ‘In a Pompeii Street’

Piano Bar
Ritz-Carlton, Double Bay

Tilt the glass a little, then let the liquor
Tumble in return down the crystal wall,
Leaving “tears” as they’re called.
Hold the glass before a candle’s flicker
And drink the light brown hue with eyes.
Breathe deep—embrace its heady nose;
The Very Special Old Pale you chose
Provides a fine companion to cigars,
As well you know. Put the lighted taper
To the tip: puff and roll, puff and roll …
Oh! those first few mouthfuls—so cloudy cool
To taste. Sip brandy; savour
Drink and tar. Listen to arpeggios
Fly up from his left hand
As he paints, with baby grand,
The room like a Michelangelo
Of C Minor. This sensuous, pensive
Little soundscape of a bar
That sits apart, though not too far,
From a dining room’s expensive
Din and glitzy chatter.
Here, for a while
For a fee, in style,
Nothing else shall matter.

Trevor Bailey

In a Pompeii Street

Frozen mid-step, and here before me:
taken unexpectedly
from Time for Posterity

by Circumstance and…