Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
The piano of his memory is an object of cohesion, bringing the family together, and is also a  metaphor  for the ‘guidance’ his mother gave to the family. 
 It is interesting that there is a contrast between the passion of the piano-playing of the woman in the present — representing the poet’s adult relationship and sexuality — and the mild-sounding ‘tinkling’ of the piano in his memory. Yet for the poet it is the latter that has the greatest strength. 
 This may indicate Lawrence’s failure to properly mature as a man. Lawrence’s semi-autobiographical novel – ‘Sons and Lovers’ – provides a good contextual link which validates this idea of maturation and its issues.
Piano