[dedicated to a. m. klein (1909-1972)]
hurt once and for all into silence.
a long pain ending without a song to prove it.
who could stand beside you so close to eden,
when you glinted in every eye the held-high
razor, shivering every ram and son?
and now the silent loony bin, where
the shadows live in the rafters like
day-weary bats,
until the turning mind, a radar signal,
lures them to exaggerate
mountain-size on the white stone wall
your tiny limp.
how can i leave you in such a house?
are there no more saints and wizards
to praise their ways with pupils,
no more evil to stun with the slap
of a wet red tongue?
did you confuse the messiah in a mirror
and rest because he had finally come?
let me cry help beside you, teacher.
i have entered under this dark roof
as fearlessly as an honoured son
enters his father's house. |