Friday 7 June 2019

Poem


A Dirge in a Country Church-Yard

No other flowers or scents cover the stench
of this garden than those in my memory, so to lose
it would set me back hard; thus on this lonely bench
under the leafless tree, I hold my nose.
If it were only a few hours every ten years
it would be endurable, and the pain no worse
than falling under a shadow or than stinging sun-spears
that cut into my brain, and I could immerse
my dreams with anticipation of relief.
The odour of the yews weighs down my grief.
I am covered with uncertainty,
blown hither and thither like a fallen leaf,
the very last, the final wisp of mortality.

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