The Crystal Set

“You want a try?”
my brother says
lifting the headphones from his own ears
and placing them on mine

At first, I hear nothing
but my brother scratches the wire
across the crystal
and the sound of stringed instruments
fills my head
Astonishing!

Then, a voice
almost lost amid the static at first
then louder
and clearer

I am too stunned to pay attention to the words
the sound of a man’s voice
a man not in this room
nor even in this house
but as clear as if it was!

Two miracles:
first, that it could be done
and second, that my brother
just six years old
could have brought this miracle to me.

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note – A crystal set was an early radio, usually homemade, that was popular in the 1920s. In 1922, President Harding brought the first radio into the White House, and many US radio stations went on the air for the first time. The BBC was founded in 1922 as well.