Played up to Heaven

He left his wife in Paducah because her
church stopped believing in music.
How could he ever let his soul sit down
where the only sounds come from a cappella
Sunday dresses calling less clearly

than homeless men falling off their meds?
Now he worships in a soup kitchen
on Chicago afternoons, making love to the piano
while other nomads chant to themselves
a prayer that needs no words to be played up to heaven.