I--The Tragedy
She sits in the tawny vapour
That the City lanes have uprolled,
Behind whose webby fold on fold
Like a waning taper
The street-lamp glimmers cold.
A messenger's knock cracks smartly,
Flashed news is in her hand
......
I know
this rose is only
an ink-and-paper rose
but see how it grows and goes
on growing
beneath your eyes:
a rose in flower
has had (almost) its vegetable hour
whilst my
rose of spaces and typography
......
This institution,
perhaps one should say enterprise
out of respect for which
one says one need not change one's mind
about a thing one has believed in,
requiring public promises
of one's intention
to fulfill a private obligation:
I wonder what Adam and Eve
think of it by this time,
......
Multitudes turn on
Those who show vision
New ways they hold up
Bold in their division
Startling in grade, daring in sweep
New horizons come to pass
Awesome and lofty
Hear the chimes ring soundless out
And float us off
Bobbing adrift...
......
Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.
Other comments are more offhand, dismissive -
......
I am the fool atop the world
laughing at those who try to climb up.
I teach ancient knowledge only made yesterday
I speak about free will when i am told to.
I am the fool atop the world
throwing stones at those who challenge me
I claim to speak the truth but sell lies instead
I truly Believe that i am humble
Yet i build statues to spread my name
......
How wonderful our world
of ingrained peace and tranquillity
with lives of eternal happiness,
As the lives that we live are carefree
And by the way, my best friend is called irony
How great our climate
Because man, in his creativity, has made gases
that fills our atmosphere
Trapping heat from the sun
......
Sinners are always mentally stronger
While the strong turn mostly sinners.
Secular forces are the communal pawns
Violence and conflicts are social sores.
Women boldly flaunt their macho look
While men show their feme demeanors.
Most of the rich are poor by their heart
......
In my infinite wisdom
I tell you this thing,
In this here my kingdom
Will the pendulum swing;
One minute the Kurds
So cute in their garb,
The other the Turks
With their venomous barb.
......
My first I wed when just sixteen
And he was sixty-five.
He treated me like any queen
The years he was alive.
Oh I betrayed him on the sly,
Like any other bitch,
and how I longed for him to die
And leave me young and rich!
My second is a gigolo
......