The First Performance

an audience of one trying not to smile
which would make me laugh, looking serious
and attentive, Buddy at his side
looking the wrong way, such is my
audience of one.
I almost laughed anyway while trying to keep
my wandering thumb in place, my lips placed
correctly, the pads of my fingers over the holes
all without cracking the "E", that most unstable
of unstable notes, the gnome.

and suddenly my two pieces were done, I
hadn't laughed, I didn't forget the pieces
in the middle, not too many notes cracked,
ah success!