the orphaned tuba

the tuba
as large as
an elephant's
ear, tarnished,
turning
away from its
silverish
color into
a green blue
metal sat
in your parent's
basement
for years.
left there
by someone your
father knew
in the navy.
you remember
struggling
to pick it up
every now and then,
trying hard
to blow a note
out of its
small mouth,
emitting only
a strange sneeze
of a sound.
you have thought
often of that
orphaned tuba,
whose hands were
around it
making music.
whose lips,
whose cheeks ballooned
and carried
it from place
to place until
it ended there.