The Quiet One (For Beatle George) Poem by Frank Bana

They met him on the local bus, just
Local boys not knowing they were bound
For glory, greatness, and here was

The one to always ask for less
The quiet one, who worked hard on his lines
Holding his own above the fuss

For years they kept him to the wings
Without stage mark or microphone
Rising to harmonize but not to sing

Saturn's dark sun, its self-effacing child
Of Krishna, kept strong by belief
Sharing his heart, looking for inner light

It was more difficult to hold
To keep that faith when all around
Of his small frame it rained, the arrogance

Intrusion, all the slights and checks
Of his kind and careless friends
Advice on what and where and how to play

And when the dam burst and the songs poured down
The rivers he had stored, the chants suppressed
In deference rang quiet and strong, the hum

Of new contentment in his mind, the sign
To cultivate his garden and his son
Discovered footsteps in that quiet time

When cancer is held back, in check
And has not come again, not yet
To take the life on which it once laid claim

He thought back to those years, he said
They gave their screams, the Beatles gained insight
And gave their nervous systems in exchange.