A Tune to Remember
        The Legend is, of course, that the band went down
        playing "Nearer My God to Thee."
                — Walter Lord, A Night to Remember

Now that the boats have been lowered to the sea,
now that the lights have failed, and a deeper chill
sets in among those remaining, the melody
starts to sound frivolous in a night so still,
so full of portent. Song sheets lit by stars,
Hartley flips through, finds nothing with the power
to be the last song, the one listed in memoirs
by the exclusive survivors of this hour.

And so he plays—by instinct or by ear—
something that sounds a little like a hymn
that he doesn't quite recall. The bandsmen hear
and by some miracle they all join in,
a tune never played before or heard again—
that unique night's unnamable refrain.

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Copyright © 2018 Anna M. Evans All rights reserved
from Under Dark Waters
Able Muse Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission