Taps is not an easy piece. Even its ending is tricky. After the last echo fades away, taps always ends in silence. There's no applause. The trumpeters don't expect it.
Taps is their sacred hymn.
To them, it's enough just to hear the sounds of clearing throats over the silky whispers of a flying flag. Cliff Radel's column appears in The Enquirer Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Cincinnati Enquirer , a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.