Make Me Smile Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

Serenade me in the Sahara
Accompanied by nothing but your trumpet
Witnessed by no one but the Sphinx
And I will smile my private smile for you.

Sing to me in that raspy scat
And I may sing right back.
Imagine what the camels will think
Listening to Cotton Club hits
Sung along the banks of the Nile.

Then take my hand and walk with me
Along paths nomads have followed
Since the first man ventured into the desert
And I will remind you of our African roots
Here in the cradle of an ancient civilization.

How old are the rhythms of jazz?
For how long have men and women
Expressed their emotions in melody
Moved their bodies to a rhythmic beat
Communicated to each other and the heavens
In hopes of having their prayers answered
Or their wished granted
Or their love accepted?

Sit with me on the banks of the Nile
And listen to the sound of its flow.
Listen to the croaks of the frogs
And the buzz of a billion insects.

This is how music came into being.
Someone somewhere fell into sympathy with nature
And began to hear the rhythm of rippling water
And the counterpoint of leaping fish and diving birds.
Someone let the calls and the screams and the struggles for life
Enter his soul and become something new, something human.

And so as we sit here today, in a different age,
But still within the endless flow of unchanging time,
Play me a melody and I will compose a rhyme
And we can offer a musical tribute to Mother Nile,
Here on the continent that gave rise to mankind.