This little poem was inspired when my friend’s beloved daughter graduated from a three-quarter-sized instrument and into a full-size instrument and a full-size life. The two are, I think, intricately entwined.

In Her Hands

for Sophie

The three-quarter cello,

breast-height and smiled-upon,

a maker of child-music

in clumsy quavers and slurs

in pieces adapted for lesser hands

its player tolerated and indulged

with promises of a big-girl bed

a bike with no training-wheels

of a someday-life in full-size

This week my Sophie

pushed up over the top

of the three-quarter instrument

and blossomed into the full

the devastating

the sonorous

the exquisite

the plaintive

the dangerous

cello

Her life is in her hands now

Kate Chadbourne

14 October 2007