Today's Poem - Saturday Feb 14 2009
When all strings sever...
When all strings sever, leaving one thin thread
And infant tyrannies of need reverse,
Then love must bite its tongue and turn its head.
Where once it strode abroad, it now must tread
As softly as a carpet-slippered nurse.
When all strings sever, leaving one thin thread,
When seas of darkness cover what is fled
And you must swim beside an empty hearse,
Your love must smile and sweetly turn its head.
Nor may you hail the ship, its slack sails spread
Upon a course to bloody grief or worse
With all lines severed, save for one thin thread.
As Ahab rants that Ishmael is dead
Make no reply, for love is in the curse
And love may smile, but may not turn its head.
Hold fast the line- forgetting what was said,
Our lives are not a voyage that we rehearse.
When all strings sever, leaving one thin thread,
Then love must bite its tongue and turn its head.
WARWICKSHIRE, 2007
A decent line of poetry can come at the most inconvenient times, but poets are only human. Friends call, children interrupt, a glass of wine might clear the head. Or, more often for me: 'It's warm here in bed and the study is cold. I'll remember that line in the morning.' But mostly, you don't - and then live to regret it over the toast and marmalade.