Read "Variation on a Theme. June 30, 1919" by Franklin P. Adams online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Notably fond of music, I dote on a clearer tone / Than ever was blared by a bugle or zoomed by a saxophone; / And the sound that opens the gates for me of a Paradise revealed / Is something akin to the note revered by the blessed Eugene Field, / Who sang in pellucid phrasing that I perfectly well recall / Of the clink of the ice in the pitcher that the boy brings up the hall.
But sweeter to me than the sparrow's song or the goose's autumn honks / Is the sound of the ice in the shaker as the barkeeper mixes a Bronx.