"The High School Band in September" appeared in Reed Whittemore's "The Self-made Man" published in 1959.
On warm days in September the high school band
Is up with the birds and marches along our street,
Boom boom,
To a field where it goes boom boom until eight forty-five
When it marches, as in the old rhyme, back, boom boom,
To its study halls, leaving our street
Empty except for the leaves that descend
To no drum
And lie still.
In September
A great many high school bands beat a great many drums
And the silences after their partings are very deep.
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